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THE 

RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK 

REVOLUTION 


THE 

RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK 

REVOLUTION 


BY 
EDWARD  ALSWORTH  ROSS,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

Pbopessoe  op  Sociology,  Uxivebsity  of  Wisconsin. 

Author  of   "Social  Control,"    "Social   Psychologj',"   "Foundations 

of   Sociology,"    "Principles  of   Sociology,"    "The   Changing 

Chinese,"  "Changing  America,"   "South  of  Panama," 

"Russia  in  Upheaval,"  etc. 


ILLUSTRATED  WITH  OVER 
THIRTY  PHOTOGRAPHS 


NEW  YORK 

THE  CENTURY  CO. 

1921 


Copyright,  1921,  by 
The  Ckntubt  Co. 


PREFACE 

This  book  is  not  written  to  make  out  a  case,  but 
to  set  forth  what  appear  to  be  the  significant 
facts.  It  is  offered  on  the  theory  that  intelhgent 
people  are  tired  of  being  victims  of  propaganda 
about  Russia  and  will  welcome  a  book  that  is  not 
trying  to  give  their  minds  a  certain  twist.  I  can 
truthfully  aver  that  when  I  set  pen  to  paper  I  had 
no  rigid  mental  attitudes  toward  the  phases  of  the 
Russian  revolution,  so  that  such  interpretations  as 
I  venture  on  have  come  out  of  my  study  of  the  facts 
themselves. 

The  current  notion  of  the  second  or  Bolshevik  rev- 
olution is  that  it  was  the  work  of  a  handful  of  ex- 
tremists who  captivated  the  Russian  masses  ^vith 
their  ideas.  Under  the  pitiless  pelting  of  facts  I 
have  been  driven  to  the  conclusion  that  this  is  untrue. 
As  I  now  see  it,  most  of  the  developments  of  the 
eight  months  between  the  March  Revolution  and  the 
November  Revolution  were  not  caused  by  leaders  but 
were  inevitable,  given  the  background  of  experience 
of  the  Russian  common  people.  If  the  train  bearing 
Lenin  and  eighteen  other  Bolsheviks  across  Germany 
to  Russia  had  fallen  through  a  bridge  on  its  way  and 
all  had  perished,  events  in  Russia  would  have  taken 
much  the  same  course.  The  peasants  would  have 
seized  the  estates  and  the  soldiers  would  have  quit 
fighting.  The  robbed  and  oppressed  masses — a  hun- 
dred millions  of  men  and  women — amoved  toward 
the  goal  of  their  long  unfulfilled  desires  like  a  flow 


350412 


vi  PEEFACE 

of  molten  lava  that  no  human  force  can  dam  or  turn 
aside. 

It  was  a  majestic  and  appalHng  social  phenomenon 
— as  elemental  almost  as  an  earthquake  or  a  tidal 
wave. 

Edwabd  Alsworth  Ross 
Madison,  Wisconsin. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 

PAGE 

The  Revolutionary  Honeymoon 3 

Moral  exaltation  of  the  Russian  people  after  the  fall  of 
the  tsardom— Fellowship  in  happiness— The  spirit  of 
mutual  aid — Symptoms  of  unselfishness  and  good  will — 
Treatment  of  prisoners — Hopes  for  a  new  Russia — Wrong- 
doers dealt  with  summarily— Why  the  ecstatic  fraternal 
mood  could  not  last. 

CHAPTER  II 
The  Background  of  the  Toiling  ]\Iasses    ....     10 

The  peasant's  background  of  experience — Life  in  the 
villages — Chronic  undernourishment — ^How  the  peasants 
were  "done"  at  the  time  of  emancipation — Low  wages  of 
the  farm  laborer — Sickness  and  infant  mortality — Theories 
as  to  the  cause  of  the  peasant's  wretchedness — The  noblesse 
— ^How  the  peasant  feels  about  the  estates. 

The  worker's  background  of  experience — Gigantic  fac- 
tories— Outrageously  low  wages — Long  hours — Tolstoi  on 
Russian  freight  handlers — Abuse  and  fines — Housing  of  the 
workers — Repression  of  strikes  and  labor  unions. 

Tlie  soldier's  background  of  experience — Harsh  discipline 
— Brutality  of  officers^ — Betrayal — Mismanagement  of  the 
war— Lack  of  rifles— Shell  shortage— Horrible  losses  of  life 
— ^Prostration  of  industry — "War-weariness." 


CHAPTER  III 
The  Provisional  Government .     39 

Anarchy  and  revolutionary  disorder — Cautious  steps  by 
Rodzianko  and  the  Duma — Regiments  come  to  the  Tauride — 
The  Provisional  Committee — Triumph  of  the  revolutionists 
— Formation  of  a  government — Miliukov's  speech — The  Min- 
isters— The  "program" — Nicholas's  abdication — Michael's 
"Declaration  from  the  Throne." 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  IV 

PA6B 

The  Soviets 53 

Tlie  workingmen  organize  in  support  of  the  revolution — 
Creation  of  the  Petrograd  Soviet — Soviets  spring  up  all  over 
Russia — A  typical  city  Soviet — Activities  of  the  "sections" 
— Early  control  of  the  Soviets  by  the  moderates — Arrival  . 
of  ninety  thousand  exiles — They  swing  proletarian  opinion 
to  the  Left. 

CHAPTER  V 

Opposite  Conceptions  of  the  Revolution  ....     60 

Deep  disillusionment  of  the  people  with  the  masters  of  the 
old  order — Different  ideas  as  to  what  the  revolution  is  to 
bring — The  Intelligentia  expect  it  to  mean  freedom — The 
business  men  expect  it  to  mean  efficiency — The  toilers  expect 
to  live  better — Excessive  concentration  of  wealth — Impossi- 
bility of  fulfilling  the  expectations  of  the  people  without  dis- 
turbing property  rights. 

CHAPTER  VI 
Agitation 66 

Sudden  release  of  ideas — A  whirlwind  of  public  discussion 
— Wonderful  opportunities  for  the  agitator — Prompt  seizure 
of  leadership  by  the  radicals — Getting  the  start  of  the 
bourgeoisie — Eecklesa  agitation — Secret  German  influence 
on  behalf  of  extremism — The  Kaiser  plays  both  endt  against 
the  middle. 

CHAPTER  VII 
Political  Groupings  and  Progr^vms 71 

Embryonic  stage  of  political  opinion — The  bulk  of  the 
masses  destitute  of  political  ideas — The  People-ists — The 
Social  Revolutionaries — The  Social-Democrats — Origin  of 
the  terms  Bolsheviki  and  Mensheviki — The  "cadets" — Tlieir 
abrupt  change  of  character — Competition  of  the  parties  to 
\Tln  the  support  of  the  millions  who  have  not  yet  made  up 
their  mind. 

CHAPTER  VIII 
The  Flood  of  Political  Reforms 76 

Honesty  of  the  Provisional  Government — Its  free  hand — 
Clearing  away  the  old  system — The  new  justice — Liberation 


CONTENTS  ix 

PAGB 

of  the  oppressed  nationalities — Religious  freedom — "Militia" 
substituted  for  "police" — Mild-mannered  commissaries — 
Local  self-government — But  the  rights  of  property  remain 
undisturbed. 

CHAPTER  IX 
Army  Order  Number  One 82 

An  incident  at  Sebastopol — OrderNo.  1— Why  it  was  issued 
— Who  was  responsible  for  it — How  it  was  distributed  to  the 
army — Soviets  and  committees  spring  up  among  the  soldiers. 


CHAPTER  X 
The  Cloud  no  Bigger  than  a  Man's  Hand     ...     88 

The  Soviet  begins  at  the  same  time  as  the  Provisional  Gov- 
ernment and  has  power,  altho  no  legal  authority — Tlie  Soviet 
fomes  to  the  help  of  the  Government— Why  the  revolution- 
ists do  not  wish  to  take  over  political  power — The  question  as 
to  the  future  of  Nicholas— Tenderness  of  the  Government  for 
tsarist  officers — Popular  dread  of  a  counter-revolution— The 
Soviet  press  censorship — The  Problem  of  co-operation— "Dual 
authority" — A  portent. 


CHAPTER  XI 
Lenin  and  his  Slogan 88 

Lenin's  great  reception  at  Petrograd — The  transit  across 
Germany — Sketch  of  Lenin's  life — T^nin  as  defeatist — A» 
Marxian — As  internationalist — As  advocate  of  the  dictator- 
ship of  the  proletariat — As  opponent  of  anarchism. 

CHAPTER  XII 
The  May  Crisis H'^ 

Contradictory  theories  of  the  war— The  Soviet's  appeal  to 
proletarians — Miliukov  wants  the  Dardanelles — His  note  of 
May  1 — Linde  stirs  up  trouble — The  demonstration  of  the 
regiments— The  Cadet  demonstration  of  May  4— Clashes  and 
bloodshed— A  dangerous  rift— The  Government  recedes— 
Guchkov  and  Miliukov  out— Five  Soviet  leaders  Join  the 
Ministry. 


X  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XIII 

PAGE 

The  Revolution  and  Labor 135 

Labor  forces  up  wages — Capital's  scandalous  profits — De- 
mand for  back  pay — Story  of  the  thirteen  sacks — Breakdown 
of  factory  discipline — Great  falling-off  in  productivity — Who 
is  to  blame? — The  eight-hour  day — Hire  and  fire — Dismissal 
pay — Medical  benefits. 

CHAPTER  XIV 
The  Decomposition  of  the  Army 145 

The  making  of  the  Tsar's  ofiicers — The  deep  gulf  between 
ofiicers  and  men — The  officers  line  up  against  the  revolution 
— Defeatism — The  Soldiers'  Charter — The  committee  nuis- 
ance— Bolshevik  propaganda  in  the  army — Factors  of  de- 
moralization— Fraternization — Commissaries — The  "women's 
battalion" — The  soldiers  simply  quit  and  go  home. 

CHAPTER  XV 
The  July  Riots     . 161 

Demonstrations  by  the  regiments  in  Petrograd — "Joy-rid- 
ing" on  a  "white  night" — Who  is  responsible? — Shooting  and 
bloodshed — Trotsky  saves  Tchernov — Did  the  Bolsheviks 
clutch  at  power  ? — What  the  leaders  declare — The  actual  fac- 
tors of  the  July  troubles. 

CHAPTER  XVI 
"German  Agents" 174 

Suppression  of  the  Bolsheviks — Their  arrest  and  indict- 
ment— Bourtsev's  charges — Alexinsky  prints  Bolshevik  tele- 
grams— Pereverzev  blackens  the  Bolshevik  leaders  with  the 
soldiers — He  is  forced  out — Failure  to  incriminate  the  Bol- 
sheviks— Bursting  of  the  "German  agent"  bubble. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
Kerensky 182 

Forming      of      the      Save-the-Revolution      Government — 
Kerensky's  origin  and  education — His  record  in  the  Duma 


CONTENTS  xi 

PAGB 

— ^His  role  in  the  March  revolution — Minister  of  Justice — 

War    Minister Marvellous    effect    of    his    oratory — ^The 

Galician  debacle — He  loses  the  proletariat  and  the  proper- 
tied— Calumnies — His  real  character. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
Growing   Anarchy 194 

Disregard  of  the  rights  of  the  propertied — Agrarian  dis- 
orders— Labor  takes  the  upper  hand — Seizure  of  estates — 
Were  agitators  responsible? — Looting  of  grain  shipments — 
The  Provisional  Government  is  powerless  as  against  the 
Soviet — Experiences  of  the  American  Red  Cross. 

CHAPTER  XIX 
City  Elections 204 

Election  of  city  diunas — Formlessness  of  political  opinion 
— Queer  groupings  of  voters — Tickets  put  up  by  those  of  the 
same  nationality,  faith,  or  economic  interest — Growth  of  the 
parties  of  the  Left. 

CHAPTER  XX 
The  Moscow  Conference 208 

Removal  of  Nicholas  to  Tobolsk — Convening  of  the  Na- 
tional Conference — Its  make-up  and  purposes — Statements  of 
Kerensky,  Nekrassov,  Kornilov,  Kaledin,  Tcheidze,  Tseretelli 
and  Rodzienko. — Protests  by  Breshkovskaya  and  Kropotken 
— Competitive  demonstrations  between  opposing  groups — 
The  Conference  reveals  the  class  antagonism  developing  in 
society. 

CHAPTER  XXI 
The  Kornilov  Affair 223 

Kornilov's  personality  and  record — His  desperate  measures 
after  the  Galician  collapse — Made  Supreme  Commander-in- 
chief — Why  he  yielded  Riga — Exodus  from  Petrograd — Kor- 
nilov protects  the  interests  of  the  estate-owners  in  the  war 
zone — Savinkov's  mission — Lvov  intervenes — Kerensky  and 
Kornilov  at  cross  purposes — Kornilov  deposed  leads  a  re- 
bellion— The  Soviets  rally  to  the  side  of  the  Government — 
Propaganda  among  the  Moslem  soldiers — Collapse  of  Korni- 
lov's attempt — Smolny  takes  the  lead — The  Cadets  discred- 
ited— Sentiment  swings  to  the  Left. 


xii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XXII 

PAOF 

The  Democratic  Conference 243 

The  Bolsheviks  capture  the  Petrograd  Soviet  Formation 
of  the  Red  Guard — The  "Quinquevirate" — Russia  proclaimed 
a  Republic — Convening  of  the  Democratic  Conference — 
Bourgeois  ridicule — The  votes  on  Coalition — Kerensky  an- 
nounces a  Coalition  Ministry — Creation  of  the  Pre-Parlia- 
ment — Bolt  of  the  Bolsheviks 

CHAPTER  XXIII 

The  Pre-Parliament  and  the  Council  of  the  Rus- 
sian Republic 252 

Pre-Parliament  mis-born — The  representatives  of  the  prop- 
ertied will  not  bow  to  its  authority — It  becomes  a  mere 
Council — The  bourgeoisie  make  terms — A  new  ministry  in 
which  the  masses  have  no  confidence — Growing  impotence 
of  the  Council — Trotsky's  defiance — The  Bolsheviks  walk 
out. 

CHAPTER  XXIV 

The   Soviet's   Peace   Terms   and   the   "Fourteen 
Points 260 

The  nakaz  of  the  Soviet — Peace  terms  framed  eighty-one 
days  before  President  Wilson's  "fourteen  points"  appeared 
— Comparison  of  the  two  proposals — Numerous  agreements. 

CHAPTER  XXV 
The  November  Revolution         264 

The  nearing  bayonets  of  Wilhelm — Attempted  removal  of 
the  Petrograd  garrison — Formation  of  the  Military  Revolu- 
tionary Committee — The  overturn  of  the  Provisional  Gov- 
ernment— Podvoisky's  story — Antonov's  story — Kamenev'a 
story — Fatal  self-confidence  of  Kerensky — His  last  appear- 
ance— The  revolt  of  the  Cadets — Krasnov's  collapse — Heavy 
fighting  in  Moscow — The  Soviets  everywhere  seize  power — 
Stunned  bourgeoisie. 

CHAPTER  XXVI 
The  Constituent  Assembly 290 

The  strike  of  the  functionaries — How  dealt  with — The 
Second  Soviet  Congress — Outlines  of  the  new  government — 


CONTENTS  xiii 

PAGE 

Land  nationalization — Peace  overtures — Workers'  control  of 
the  factories — Abolition  of  class  distinctions — The  elections 
to  the  Constituent — Did  their  results  reflect  accurately  the 
will  of  the  people? — Sabotaging  the  Assembly — Uritzky — 
Rough  methods — First  and  last  session  of  the  Assembly — 
Tchernov — The  split — Dissolution — What  the  Assembly 
would  have  done — A  fatal  step. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

TAOING     PAGE 

Veterans  of  the  Russian  Revolution  .  .  Frontispiece 
Attacking  the  Czar's  police  during  the  first  days  of 

the   March    Revolution 16 

A.  Kollontay 17 

Act  of  abdication  of  Nicholas  II,  March  16,  1917  .  50 
Act  of  abdication  of  Grand  Duke  Michael,  March  17, 

1917 51 

L.  Kamenev 64 

A.  Lunacharsky 65 

Smolny  Institute 80 

May  1st,  1918 81 

Nickolai  Lenin  .         112 

May   Day   demonstration   in   front   of  the  Marble 

Palace 113 

May   Day  demonstration  in   front  of  the   Winter 

Palace 128 

Cossacks  parading  on  May  1 129 

Bourgeoisie  at  work 144 

D.  Antonov 145 

Leon    Trotzky ....  160 

Political  manifestation  in  favor  of  the  Soviet,  July  1, 

1917 161 

Woman's  Battalion  of  Death  guarding  the  Winter 

Palace 168 

The  beginning  of  the  July  uprising  in  Petrograd     .  169 

Scene  from  one  of  the  July  Bolshevist  meetings  .  192 

A.  F.  Kerensky 193 

A   detachment  of  the  Red   Guard   in  a  captured 

armored  ear 208 

N.  Krylenko 209 


XV 


xvi  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

TAOINQ    FAOB 

Vladimir   Bonch-Brujevitch 209 

General  Kornilov  and  his  staff 224 

Enlistment  of  volunteers  for  the  Red  Army  .  .  225 
Peace  demonstration   in   Petrograd,   December   17, 

1917 256 

Proshian 257 

Podvoisky 272 

Bolshevik  troops  guarding  the  telephone  station     .  273 

High  Revolutionary  Tribunal 276 

G.  Zinoviev 277 

G.  Chicherin 277 

M.  Uritsky  284 

A  detachment  of  Red  Guard  Sailors  who  dissolved 

the   Constituent  Assembly 285 


THE 

RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK 

REVOLUTION 


THE 

RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK 

REVOLUTION 


J  CHAPTER  I 

THE  REVOLUTIONARY  HONEYMOON 

WHEN  in  March,  1917,  the  rotten  tsardom  un- 
expectedly fell,  a  wonderful  spirit  of  brother- 
hood swept  through  all  classes  of  Russian  society. 
Save  its  paid  and  petted  defenders  no  one  stood  up 
for  the  old  regime.  Only  the  police  were  willing  to 
risk  their  skins  for  it.  They,  indeed,  were  ruthlessly 
dealt  with,  but  they  were  usually  taken  fully  armed 
while  playing  machine-gnins  from  roofs  and  belfries 
upon  the  unarmed  people  in  the  streets.  After  the 
rat-tat-tat  of  Protopopov's  machine-guns  died  away 
there  were  no  guardians  of  public  order  except  the 
hastily  organized  youthful  "militia."  Neverthe- 
less, the  people  made  it  a  point  of  honor  to  preserve 
order  and  for  several  weeks  life  in  the  large  cities 
was  almost  perfectly  safe. 

Sympathetic  association  has  an  almost  magical 
value.  After  the  San  Francisco  fire  it  was  remarked 
that  families  that  had  lost  all  and  were  camped  in 
the  parks  were  by  no  means  downhearted.  The  se- 
cret was  that  the  universal  sympathy  and  helpful- 

3 


4      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

iiess  were  meat  and  drink  to  the  starved  social  self. 
The  sudden  fellowshiiD  that  springs  up  in  hours  of 
disaster — like  the  death-watch  of  the  Titanic — is 
found  so  sweet  that  the  survivors  form  an  associa- 
tion and  meet  annually  in  order  to  revive  it.  Just  as 
the  loveliest  flowers  grow  nearest  the  toe  of  the  gla- 
cier, so  the  sweetest  intimacies  spring  u^  among 
those  sharing  the  most  terrible  experiences.  In  war 
*' comrade"  becomes  a  sacred  word,  and  the  bonds 
uniting  trench-mates  and  messmates  often  last 
through  life.  So  comforting  is  this  perfect  fellow- 
ship that  soldiers  will  joke  and  whistle  amid  hor- 
rors that  would  drive  a  solitary  man  out  of  his  wits. 
The  journals  of  Polar  expeditions  bear  witness  to 
the  cheerfulness  of  the  men  during  the  long  Arctic 
night.  With  companionship  but  without  sunshine 
they  were  far  happier  than  the  mountain  shepherds 
who  have  sunshine  but  lack  companionship. 

So  was  it  for  a  few  days  following  the  March 
Revolution.  There  was  a  brief  period  of  socializa- 
tion, which,  nevertheless,  soon  passed  away  be- 
cause it  had  no  solid  basis.  Upon  realizing  that  at 
last  the  ancient  dreadful  incubus  was  gone,  happy 
excited  crowds  rolled  through  the  streets,  every  one 
cheering,  singing,  shaking  hands  with  strangers, 
crying  for  very  joy.  The  officers  of  the  military 
missions  maintained  by  the  Allies  met  smiles  and 
friendly  looks  whenever  they  showed  themselves. 
Later  they  found  it  hard  to  recollect  that  for  a  brief 
season  they  basked  in  the  sunshine  of  popularity. 

With  a  solemn  self-devoted  look  the  young  fellows 
— soldiers,  students,  and  workingmen — dashed 
about  in  the  army  trucks  and  automobiles,  fighting 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  HONEYMOON  5 

the  police,  while  with  tears  in  their  eyes  the  people 
waved  and  cheered  and  exclaimed  to  one  another: 
**They  are  ours!  Thank  God,  the  army  is  with  us 
at  last!" 

Never  were  people  so  obliging  to  one  another  and 
so  kind.  Any  rough-looking  man  would  step  off  the 
path  into  the  wet  snow  to  make  room  for  a  woman 
or  a  child. 

Workingmen  would  say:  **This  is  no  time  to  be 
demanding  higher  wages.  Until  the  new  Russia  is 
safe  all  the  wages  we  will  ask  is  enough  to  feed  our 
children. "  In  a  milk  shop  you  might  find  customers, 
rich  and  poor,  going  to  the  milk  cans,  pouring  out 
what  they  needed,  and  leaving  the  right  change  on 
the  counter.  The  spirit  of  helpfulness  was  abroad. 
On  the  street  corners  speakers  told  the  people  how 
to  organize  themselves.  Out  of  students  and  young 
men  of  this  type  a  police  was  improvised  to  keep 
order.  Committees  sprang  up  to  organize  the  food 
supplies,  finding  where  food  was  needed  most  and 
providing  for  its  distribution  to  every  part  of  the 
town.  In  the  big  apartment-  or  tenement-houses 
committees  were  formed  and  a  larger  committee  for 
each  block;  and  these  committees  considered  the 
need  of  every  family.^ 

The  people's  forces  captured  the  prisons  and  the 
prisoners,  trembling  and  sick-looking,  were  brought 
out.  As  they  came  out  they  were  asked  by  the 
revolutionists,  "What  were  you  in  for?"  If  it  was 
a  political  offense  they  were  cheered.  Many  shook 
their  hands  and  even  wept.  Nothing  was  too  good 
for  them.    If  the  prisoner  admitted  having  been  in- 

1  See  Poole,  The  Village,  pp.  57-59. 


6      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

carcerated  for  a  real  offense,  particulars  were  asked. 
In  some  cases  they  were  cuffed  or  thrashed  and 
warned  their  lives  would  be  forfeit  if  they  were 
caught  again.  But  all  were  let  go,  and  no  doubt  this 
mistaken  clemency  cost  Russia  dear. 

The  testimony  of  Mrs.  Tirkova- Williams,^  a  Rus- 
sian woman  married  to  the  well-known  English  news- 
paper correspondent,  Harold  Williams,  is  striking: 

In  those  days  good-nature  and  good-will  were  general, 
and  created  a  strong,  common  feeling,  breathing  energy 
and  force.  People  looked  joyfully  and  trustfully  into 
each  other's  eyes  and  smiled  with  that  irrepressible 
happy  smile  which  beams  upon  lover's  faces. 

We  believed  that  Russia  stood  upon  the  threshold  of 
a  new,  longed-for-life,  when  every  one  would  feel  him- 
self equally  free,  when  rights  and  duties  would  be  as- 
signed, not  as  a  series  of  privileges  and  compulsions,  but 
as  something  inherent  in  every  individual. 

It  was  a  joy  to  behold  how  the  pathos  of  liberty  was 
kindled  in  the  hearts  of  drab,  insignificant  men  and  women, 
who  but  yesterday  felt  themselves  to  be  pariahs.  On  the 
second  or  third  day  of  the  Revolution  a  telegraph  mes- 
senger brought  me  a  telegram,  and  handing  it  to  me,  said: 

"Thank  you  so  much." 

I  looked  at  him  in  surprise.  A  pale,  tired-out,  sickly, 
hollow-cheeked  man  stood  before  me.  But  the  light  in  his 
eyes  relieved  the  drab  insignificance  of  his  countenance. 

"What  for?"  I  asked  him. 

"Why,  to  be  sure,  we  know  about  it,"  he  said  warmly, 
"although  we  are  small  people,  and  have  kept  to  our  slums 
afraid  to  move,  still  we  knew  of  what  others  did.  I  have 
read  your  articles  in  the  papers  and  heard  your  speeches 
at  meetings.     We  also  understand  what  different  people 

1  From  Liberty  to  Brest  Litovsk,  pp.  10-12. 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  HONEYMOON  7 

stand  for.  Well,  thank  God,  we  've  gained  our  liberty, 
you  and  I.  It  seems  to  me  as  if  I  were  born  again.  What 
were  we  before  now?  Nothing.  Worse  oif  than  dogs. 
Harassed  by  every  one,  not  looked  upon  as  human  beings. 
And  now  my  back  is  straightened.  I  seem  to  tread  on  air, 
my  very  soul  seems  to  sing— I  am  a  man,  I  am  no  longer  a 
slave  but  a  free  man." 

His  words  gushed  out  in  torrents.  The  joy  of  liberty 
was  bubbling  in  him  like  wine.  I  could  not  take  my  gaze 
off  the  eyes  that  sparkled  with  pride  and  joy.  We  both 
laughed  with  that  glad  laugh  which  means  so  much  more 
than  words.  And  the  telegraph  messenger  hastened  to 
tell  his  story  in  order  to  make  me  realise  more  vividly  the 
importance  of  all  that  was  filling  his  soul  to  overflowing: 

"Here  I  have  a  wife  and  five  children.  As  to  myself, 
I  am  an  invalid.  I  have  consumption.  You  yourself  know 
how  hard  my  work  is?  Out  in  the  street  in  all  weathers. 
Our  wages  are  beggarly — forty  rubles  a  month.  But  I 
claim  nothing,  I  want  nothing,  no  increase,  nothing. 
We  '11  bear  it,  we  '11  weather  it  somehow.  If  only  we  can 
hold  firmly  together,  only  not  return  to  what  was  before. 
But  we  '11  hold  together,  won't  we?" 

The  small  grey  eyes  shone  with  hope  and  faith.  We 
parted  like  old  friends  with  a  hearty  hand-shake.  And 
often  in  the  gloomy  days  of  disillusion  and  defeat  I  thought 
of  this  consumptive  postman,  of  his  enthusiasm,  his  touch- 
ing intimacy  with  all  whom  he  looked  upon  as  friends  of 
liberty,  his  heroic  readiness  to  bear  any  further  material 
misfortunes  if  only  to  safeguard  his  rights  as  a  man  and 
a  citizen. 

His  was  by  no  means  an  exceptional  case.  Liberty  had 
straightened  out  many  people,  had  made  them  kinder  and 
more  sociable.  All  around  there  arose  the  overwhelming 
consciousness  of  proximity  to  and  of  fusion  with  millions 
of  other  people.  Probably  something  of  the  kind  is  felt 
in  moments  of  mass  religious  movements. 


8       THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

An  official  of  the  Kerensky  Government  declares : 

I  remember  well  the  strange  kindness  and  tenderness 
evinced  by  the  people  of  Petrograd  during  the  first  weeks 
of  the  Revolution,  and  especially  after  the  Czar  was  ar- 
rested. I  saw  not  a  sign  of  animosity  or  distrust.  All 
were  eager  to  show  affection  and  faith  in  each  other,  to 
help  each  other,  to  cooperate  for  the  common  weal.  I  can 
never  forget  the  young  Russian  student,  a  girl  of  about 
nineteen  years  of  age.  She  was  engaged  to  work  for  the 
Petrograd  Council  of  "Workmen  and  Soldiers  and  in  dis- 
tributing bread  and  soup  to  the  people  who  crowded  the 
palace  for  days  and  nights,  I  saw  her  one  day  looking 
with  a  happy  smile  at  a  soldier,  who  had  fallen  asleep 
while  standing  on  guard  in  the  palace.  I  greeted  her. 
*'Is  it  not  true,  comrade,"  she  asked  me,  "that  it  is  worth 
while  to  die  now?  People  are  happy  and  free.  Oh  I 
envy  those  who  have  fallen ! "  ^ 

The  spontaneous  lynching  of  persons  suspected 
to  be  guilty  of  anti-social  offenses,  was  not  so  dis- 
cordant with  the  general  spirit  of  good  will  as  one 
might  at  first  suppose.  It  was  felt  that  it  was  doubly 
wrong  to  commit  crime  now  that  the  police  were 
gone  and  the  death  penalty  was  abolished.  Under 
the  tsar  much  might  be  forgiven;  but  there  should 
be  no  mercy  for  the  man  who  smirched  the  fair  fame 
of  the  Revolution.  Now  that  brotherhood  had  be- 
come a  reality  it  was  felt  that  the  man  guilty  of 
breaking  the  implied  laws  of  brotherhood  was  not 
fit  to  live.  In  fact,  the  ecstatic  fraternal  mood  of 
the  liberated  people  recalls  Wordsworth's  character- 
ization of  the  early  days  of  the  French  Revolution: 

1  Zilboorg,  The  Passing  of  the  Old  Order  in  Europe,  p.  187. 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  HONEYMOON  9 

Bliss  was  it  in  that  dawn  to  be  alive, 
But  to  be  young  was  very  Heaven ! 

That  this  blithe  spirit  later  became  overcast  by 
furious  contention  was  due,  in  the  case  of  Russia 
as  in  the  case  of  France,  not  so  much  to  particular 
persons  as  to 

a  terrific  reservoir  of  guilt  and  ignorance  filled  up 
from  age  to  age 
That  could  no  longer  hold  its  loathsome  charge 
But  burst  and  spread  in  deluge  through  the  land. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE    BACKGROUND    OF    THE    TOILING    MASSES 

NOTHING  is  more  preposterous  than  to  wonder 
why  the  toiling  masses  of  Russia,  standing 
amid  their  freshly  broken  chains,  did  not  conduct 
themselves  as  we  should  do  facing  their  problems  of 
war  and  social  reconstruction.  When  their  behav- 
ior appears  to  us  ''unreasonable"  or  "violent," 
there  is  always  at  hand  a  stock  explanation  in  the 
illiteracy  figures  for  the  Russian  people.  In  case 
this  does  not  suffice  we  are  urged  to  consider  the 
"primitiveness"  of  the  Russian  folk  mind. 

Now,  the  ignorance  and  want  of  outlook  of  the 
muzhiks  must,  indeed,  be  borne  in  mind  in  interpret- 
ing the  phenomena  of  the  Revolution.  On  the  whole, 
however,  the  key  it  is  necessary  to  apply  in  order  to 
make  understandable  the  behaviour  of  the  Russian 
masses  is  their  background  of  experience.  In  order 
to  see  why  it  is  inevitable  that  the  first  gush  of 
brotherhood  should  pass  quickly  like  the  morning 
dew,  so  that  spring  will  hardly  pass  into  summer 
before  freed  Russia  becomes  the  theater  of  fierce 
class  struggle,  it  is  necessary  to  realize  the  lot  of 
the  toiling  masses  under  the  regime  which  has  just 
collapsed  over  their  heads.  It  is  the  bitterness  of 
this  lot  that  explains  why  they  obstinately  withhold 
their    confidence    from    the    government    provided 

10 


BACKGROUND  OF  THE  TOILING  MASSES      11 

them  by  the  classes  they  look  upon  as  their  ex- 
ploiters and  speedily  become  enchanted  with  the 
slogans,  "Save  the  Revolution!"  ''All  power  to 
the  Soviets!"  It  is  this  that  accounts  for  their 
easily  aroused,  and  often  quite  groundless,  fear  lest, 
after  all,  their  erstwhile  oppressors  shall  contrive 
somehow  to  take  their  Revolution  away  from  them. 
Here  we  come  upon  the  secret  of  their  intense  sus- 
piciousness and  their  fierceness  toward  any  individ- 
ual or  group  against  whom  the  cry  of  ' '  counter-rev- 
olutionary" can  be  raised. 

THE   peasant's   BACKGROUND    OF    EXPERIENCE 

In  European  Russia  the  tillers  of  the  soil  rarely 
live  on  individual  farms,  but  huddle  in  rural  villages 
which  harbor  sometimes  as  many  as  ten  thousand  in- 
habitants. Entering  such  a  village,  you  miss  the 
sidewalks,  trees,  and  spacious  front  yards  which  re- 
deem the  American  country  town.  To  prevent  the 
spread  of  fire  among  these  wooden  habitations  the 
streets  are  made  very  wide,  but  no  highway  runs 
down  their  middle  and  no  footpaths  flank  them.  In 
winter  they  are  a  deep  bed  of  snow,  in  summer  usu- 
ally a  trough  of  dust  or  mud.  Trees,  shrubbery, 
grass-plots,  flower  beds,  find  no  place  in  the  scene. 

The  houses  are  tiny  huts  of  logs— in  the  treeless 
South  of  Russia  they  are  of  mud— of  one  or  two 
rooms.  The  floor  is  of  earth  or  rough  boards.  A 
table,  some  backless  benches,  perhaps  a  chair  or  two, 
constitute,  along  with  the  omnipresent  icons,  the  fur- 
niture. The  outstanding  feature  of  the  peasant's 
izha  is  a  big  whitewashed  brick  stove.  The  top  of 
it   offers    a    spacious   platform   on   which   in    cold 


12     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

weather  the  older  folks  sleep  at  night  and  rest  by 
day.  It  is  here  that  the  children  play  during  the 
long  weary  winter  months  and  here  is  the  domestic 
hospital  to  which  the  ailing  members  of  the  family 
resort.  Thanks  to  this  stove  and  to  the  wood 
splinters  which  light  the  hut  when,  as  is  often  the 
case,  there  is  no  lamp,  the  interior  is  likely  to  be 
smoky.  Small  wonder  that  eye  trouble  and  blind- 
ness are  rife  in  these  villages! 

Save  in  the  central  provinces  supplied  with  fab- 
rics from  the  textile  factories  of  the  Moscow  region, 
the  clothes  of  the  peasant  are  homespun  from  flax, 
hemp,  or  wool.  Underwear  there  is  none.  Two 
garments,  trousers  and  smock,  constitute  the  man's 
dress  in  summer.  In  winter  there  is  a  sheepskin 
coat  with,  the  wool  turned  inside.  Many  a  family 
has  but  one  sheepskin  coat,  the  older  members 
wearing  it  by  turns.  When  the  peasant  wears  foot- 
gear at  all  it  will  be — for  holiday  best — the  coars- 
est of  long  cowhide  boots ;  for  the  rest  he  wears  the 
bast  shoes  common  among  our  ancestors  in  the  Mid- 
dle Ages.  These  are  a  sort  of  moccasin  plaited 
from  strips  of  bark.  They  suffice  to  protect  the 
foot  from  laceration  but  not  from  cold  and  wet. 
The  women  knit  themselves  stockings,  but  the  men, 
as  a  rule,  do  riot  wear  socks.  They  swathe  their 
feet  in  rags. 

The  Russian  peasant  is  in  small  danger  of  obesity. 
He  lives  below  any  plane  we  know  to  have  been 
touched  by  the  rural  population  of  medieval  Eng- 
land. Perhaps  we  should  liken  his  lot  to  that  of  the 
French  peasantry  at  the  time  of  the  Jacqueries  in  the 
seventeenth  century.    To  abstain  from  meat  during 


BACKGROUND  OF  THE  TOILING  MASSES      13 

the  numerous  fast-days  and  seasons  of  the  Russian 
Orthodox  Church  is  no  violent  wrench  to  his  dietary 
habits.  "The  hog  or  steer  which  the  peasant  raises 
he  is  Ukely  to  sell  in  order  to  obtain  the  money  with 
which  to  pay  his  taxes  and  debts.  Even  the  well-to- 
do  muzhik  partakes  of  meat  only  on  Sundays  or  holi- 
days and  on  other  special  occasions,  never  every 
day."i 

As  for  his  bread,  it  will  be  black,  made  from 
whole  rye  or  barley — never  from  wheat,  for  his 
wheat  he  sells.  White  bread  is  an  article  of  luxury 
as  it  was  in  France  under  the  Bourbon  regime. 
Moreover,  even  black  bread  is  not  consumed  reck- 
lessly. For  the  five  years  immediately  preceding 
the  outbreak  of  the  World  War  the  average  annual 
per-capita  consumption  of  bread  grains  by  the  prin- 
cipal peoples  was  as  follows: 

Hundredweight 

Canadians    26.5 

Americans   22  2 

Danes 191 

Hungarians  11 

Belgians     10^ 

Germans   10 

French    9.6 

Dutch  9 

Rumanians    8.4 

Russians    7.6 

A  Russian  economist  who  was  a  bureau  chief  un- 
der the  Provisional  Government  declares: 

Taking  into  consideration  that  bread  is  the  chief  article 
of  food  of  the  Russian  peasant,  whereas  in  Western  coun- 
tries it  plays  a  far  less  important  part,  it  may  fairly  be 
asserted  that  the  Russian  population,  with  its  consump- 
tion of  381  kilograms  per  head,  was  chronically  underfed.  ^ 

1  Hindus,  The  Russian  Peasant,  p.  15. 

2  Nordman,  Peace  Problems;  Russian  Economics,  p.  36. 


14     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

Insufficient  black  bread,  then,  eked  out  with  po- 
tatoes, mush,  and  cabbage  soup — such  is  the  coarse 
and  monotonous  diet  of  the  peasants.  And  often 
millions  cannot  find  even  enough  of  these  to  hold 
body  and  soul  together.  Since  the  memorable  visi- 
tation of  1891  scarcely  a  year  has  passed  that  there 
has  not  been  famine  in  some  part  of  Russia. 

The  wretchedness  of  his  lot  but  reflects  the  small- 
ness  of  the  peasant 's  income.  Sixty  years  ago,  when 
the  Russian  serfs  were  emancipated,  they  received 
by  no  means  the  amount  of  land — on  the  whole  about 
one  half  of  the  estates — upon  which  their  owners 
had  been  accustomed  to  allow  them  to  grow  their 
own  food.  The  best  portions  of  the  land  they  had 
been  tilling  for  themselves  were  cut  off  and  taken 
by  their  master  for  himself.  Consequently  most 
of  the  serfs  entered  upon  freedom  with  too  little 
land  to  live  from  and  burdened  with  a  long  series 
of  pajTuents  which  should  ''redeem"  this  land,  for 
which  they  were  required  to  pay  from  50  to  100  per 
cent,  more  than  it  was  worth.  Since  emancipation 
the  peasant  population  of  European  Russia  has 
doubled,  with  the  inevitable  result  of  a  remorseless 
growth  of  poverty  and  misery.  The  average  hold- 
ing per  family,  which  was  13  acres  in  I860,  fell  to 
91/,  acres  by  1880,  and  to  but  7  acres  in  1900. 

If,  landless  or  unable  to  raise  a  living  from  his 
petty  holding,  the  peasant  hires  out,  he  earns  a 
wage  comparable  only  to  that  of  the  coolie  of  India 
or  China.  Twenty  years  ago  the  agricultural  la- 
borer in  half  the  provinces  of  European  Russia  was 
paid  no  more  in  a  year  than  the  American  "farm- 
hand" (^anwMl   ill   a   montli!     According  to  a   table 


BACKGROUND  OF  THE  TOILING  MASSES      15 

prepared  by  the  United  States  Department  of  Agri- 
culture in  1892,  the  Russian  agricultural  laborer 
received  in  a  year  about  as  much  as  his  fellow  of 
British  India,  a  little  over  half  as  much  as  the  Ital- 
ian, a  third  as  much  as  the  German,  a  fourth  as 
much  as  the  Frenchman,  and  a  fifth  as  much  as  the 
Briton.  For  the  first  decade  of  our  century  his 
daily  wage  without  board  ranged  in  forty-four  prov- 
inces from  18  to  40  cents.  The  prevalent  wage  was 
from  30  to  35  cents. 

These  ''dark"  folk  are  scarcely  more  conscious 
of  themselves  than  were  the  peasantry  of  England 
in  the  days  of  Edward  III.  They  breed  nearly 
three  times  as  fast  and  die  nearly  three  times  as 
fast  as  people  in  the  enlightened  parts  of  the  United 
States.  Children  arrive  close  together  in  the  izha 
and  a  third  of  them  are  buried  before  they  reach 
their  first  birthday.  No  wonder,  in  view  of  what 
they  must  undergo!  Since  in  summer  the  mother 
is  obliged  to  pass  her  day  at  work  in  distant  fields, 
the  nursling  of  a  few  months  is  left  alone  tumbling 
about  on  the  dirt  floor  and  comforting  itself,  when 
it  feels  the  pangs  of  hunger,  by  sucking  poultices  of 
chewed  bread  tied  to  its  hands  or  feet! 

Through  these  clusters  of  human  beings  disease 
sweeps  almost  unopposed.  Official  figures  show 
that  in  1912  about  827c  of  the  population  suffered 
from  some  ailment  or  other.  The  preceding  year 
contagious  disease  was  four  times  as  rife  in  Rus- 
sia proper  as  in  the  more  civilized  provinces  on  the 
Baltic  and  the  Vistula.  The  peasants  are  more 
scourged  by  disease  than  the  townspeople.  In  the 
United  States  there  is  one  doctor  for  every  eight 


16       THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

hundred  persons.  In  Eussia  medical  service  is  per- 
haps twenty  times  as  scarce.  The  ratio  in  1912  was 
one  physician  to  13,000  people  in  the  cities  and  one 
to  21,900  in  the  country. 

Various  causes  of  the  wretched  plight  of  the  Rus- 
sian peasantry  suggest  themselves.  The  observer 
who  grasps  the  significance  of  Malthus's  Law  of 
Population  will  explain  it  by  their  blind  animal-like 
multiplication,  which  requires  the  village  common 
lands  to  be  divided  among  an  ever  larger  number 
of  families.  Thus  grows  constantly  the  proportion 
of  peasants  with  holdings  too  small  to  feed  their 
families.  So  long  as  they  propagate  without  fore- 
sight or  restraint  there  is  no  possibility  of  perma- 
nently improving  their  condition.  Even  if  all  the 
arable  land  in  Russia  comes  into  their  possession, 
they  will  experience  relief  only  until  in  a  few  years 
the  fatal  expansion  of  population  has  taken  up  the 
slack.  Then  the  strain  will  be  as  severe  as  ever  and, 
unless  the  culture  plane  of  the  peasants  can  be 
raised,  they  will  multiply  until  Russia  is  as  over- 
peopled as  China  or  India. 

There  can  be,  then,  no  lasting  amelioration  of  the 
peasants'  lot  until  their  rate  of  increase  has  been 
curbed  by  the  same  influences  which  have  curbed 
the  rate  of  increase  of  a  few  of  the  more  enlightened 
peoples.  A  stimulating  and  individualizing  educa- 
tion of  all  members  of  the  rising  generation  is, 
therefore,  the  only  thing  that  will  extricate  these 
people  from  the  quagmire  into  which  they  are  sink- 
ing. 

Another    observer,    less    philosophical    but    well 


A.  Kollontay 

People's  Commissarj-  of  Social  Welfare 


BACKGROUND  OF  THE  TOILING  MASSES      17 

versed  in  the  world 's  agricultural  experience,  might 
conclude : 

The  root  of  these  people 's  poverty  is  poor  farming. 
The  acre  jdeld  of  grains  in  Eussia  is  but  two  thirds 
of  the  yield  of  Italy,  Bulgaria  and  Roumania; 
scarcely  a  half  of  the  yield  of  British  India,  Uruguay, 
Greece,  France,  Hungary,  the  United  States,  Canada 
and  Argentina;  two  fifths  of  the  yield  of  Germany 
and  Denmark ;  one  third  or  less  of  the  yield  of  Hol- 
land, Japan,  Norway,  England,  and  Belgium.  And 
this  showing  includes  the  estates,  which,  being  better 
land  and  better  farmed,  yield  one  fourth  more  per 
acre  than  the  lands  which  belong  to  the  109,000 
peasant  communes.  So  that,  although  the  great  Rus- 
sian plain  is  one  of  the  best  agricultural  tracts  in  the 
world,  no  peasantry  obtains  a  smaller  return  from  its 
tillage. 

It  is  necessary,  then,  to  discard  the  system  of  com- 
munal land  ownership,  long  since  abandoned  in 
Western  and  Central  Europe,  which  enslaves  the 
peasant  to  the  farming  practices  and  customs  of  his 
community,  which  yokes  the  progressive  few  with 
the  stagnant  many,  which  periodically  reallots  the 
land  so  that  one  has  no  incentive  to  make  improve- 
ments or  to  preserve  or  build  up  the  fertility  of  the 
land  he  tills,  and  which  requires  the  land  to  be  tilled 
in  strips  so  narrow  that  from  5  to  15  per  cent,  of  the 
area  cannot  be  properly  cultivated. 

Other  faults  of  peasant  agriculture  are — lack  of 
horse-power  to  work  the  land,  and  impoverishment 
of  the  soil  owing  to  scarcity  of  live  stock  and  to  burn- 
ing for  fuel  the  straw  and  manure  which  should  be 


18      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

returned  to  the  fields,  the  sowing  of  foul  or  weak 
seed,  lack  of  proper  implements  and  machinery  for 
efficient  farming,  and  ignorance  of  the  art  of  good 
farming.  The  peasants  will  continue  in  a  morass  of 
misery  until  proper  schools  disseminate  among  the 
young  people  a  knowledge  of  the  best  agricultural 
practices  and  the  spirit  of  cooperation,  while  the  ex- 
tension of  communal  or  government  credit  enables 
them  to  equip  themselves  with  the  stock  and  imple- 
ments necessary  to  their  work. 

This  is  wise  counsel,  to  be  sure,  but  the  Malthus- 
ian  would  insist  that  no  doubling  or  trebling  of 
crops  will  afford  more  than  a  temporary  relief  to  the 
muzhiks  unless  they  cease  to  propagate  as  they  do. 
Let  them  be  as  clever  farmers  as  the  Belgians  or 
the  Japanese, — by  the  time  they  have  added  twenty 
or  thirty  millions  to  their  numbers,  a  by-product  of 
blind  instinct,  all  their  improved  agriculture  will  not 
save  them  from  being  as  necessitous  as  they  now  are. 

So  may  the  enlightened  observer  ruminate  as  to 
**the  one  thing  needful'^  to  raise  the  whole  plane  of 
existence  of  the  Russian  peasantry.  But  the  peas- 
ants themselves  look  for  relief  in  quite  another  di- 
rection. 

Scattered  among  their  village  common  lands  are 
state  lands,  crown  lands,  church  lands,  monastery 
lands,  the  estates  of  110,000  nobles,  in  all  about  165,- 
000,000  acres  of  arable  land— enough,  were  it  evenly 
distributed,  to  provide  perhaps  an  additional  ten 
acres  for  the  average  farm  family.  Property  these 
estates  are,  but  not  property  hallowed,  as  it  is  among 
us,  by  the  investment  of  the  fruits  of  one's  toil.  The 
kulaks,  or  rich  peasants,  built  up  their  farms  bit  by 


BACKGROUND  OF  THE  TOILING  MASSES      19 

bit,  but  the  estates  were  gifts  from  the  czar,  cen- 
turies ago  in  most  cases,  bestowed  in  order  to  pro- 
vide a  basis  for  organizing  the  military  defense  of 
the  nation.  In  such  property  rights  the  peasant 
acknowledges  no  sacredness.  Even  when  he  was 
a  serf  he  stubbornly  disputed  his  master's  title  to 
the  soil.  "We  are  yours,"  he  would  say,  "but  the 
land  is  ours."  He  looks  upon  the  landed  proprie- 
tors as  usurpers.  "In  the  consciousness  of  the 
people,"  declared  a  representative  at  the  Congress 
of  the  Peasants'  Union  in  1905,  "land  is  a  gift  of 
God  like  air  and  water.  Only  he  who  wants  to  work 
it  should  get  it,  each  according  to  his  needs."  In 
the  Duma  the  peasant  deputy  Anikin  said:  "We 
need  the  land  not  for  sale  or  mortgage,  not  for  spec- 
ulation, not  to  rent  it  and  get  rich,  but  to  work  it. 
The  land  interests  us  not  as  merchandise  or  com- 
modity, but  as  a  means  of  raising  useful  products." 
Hence  the  slogan  of  the  agrarian  movement,  Zemlia 
narodu,  "The  land  to  the  people,"  i.  e.,  the  work- 
ing-people. 

The  fact  is,  the  peasant  idealizes  the  ownership 
of  land.  "All  around  him  he  sees  the  landlords  who 
have  everything,  enjoy  everything,  beautiful  homes, 
elegant  clothes,  an  abundance  of  food;  who  ride  in 
stately  carriages  drawn  by  sprightly  horses;  whose 
children  frolic  at  balls  and  dances,  and  gallop  mer- 
rily about  the  country  on  horseback.  The  landlord, 
the  peasant  reasoned,  had  everything  because  he 
had  much  land.  Any  one  who  had  much  land  could 
be  happy.  Hence  he  was  sure  that  increase  in  his 
holding  would  lift  him  to  a  higher  level  of  living."  ^ 

1  Hindus,  The  Russian  Peasant,  p.  172. 


20      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

Toward  the  landlord  the  peasants  feel  only  the 
hostility  excited  by  those  who  come  between  us  and 
our  goal.  The  tales  recounted  by  the  graybeards 
keep  alive  among  them  recollections  of  the  days  of 
serfdom,  but,  such  is  the  sweetness  of  nature  of  the 
Russian  people,  there  is  no  dark  heritage  of  grudges, 
no  vindictive  thirst  to  avenge  on  the  present  lord 
the  wrongs  of  his  ancestors  against  our  ancestors. 
The  pomieshtchik  is  a  nuisance,  that  is  all.  **Let 
him  betake  himself  whither  he  will,  if  only  we  may 
have  his  land.  We  have  no  desire  to  hurt  him.  Or, 
if  he  will  stay,  he  shall  have  his  share  just  like  the 
rest  of  us.  But  as  for  tilling  his  acres  and  giving 
him  half  the  crop,  we  will  do  this  only  so  long  as 
the  czar  has  police  and  troops  to  coerce  us, — no 
longer. ' ' 

THE   worker's   background   OF   EXPERIENCE 

Forty  years  ago  the  bulk  of  the  wares  needed  by 
the  Russian  common  people  were  the  product  of 
home  or  village  industries.  It  was  in  the  later  dec- 
ades of  the  nineteenth  century  that  capitalist  in- 
dustry triumphed  in  Russia  over  the  older  forms  and 
grew  like  the  mango-tree  in  the  Hindu  conjurer's 
trick.  Lured  by  the  almost  fabulous  profits  of  the 
Russian  factories  disposing  of  their  products  in  a 
market  protected  by  a  very  high  tariff,  capital  hur- 
ried from  Germany,  Belgium,  England,  and  other 
centers  of  accumulation,  while  sturdy  yokels, 
squeezed  out  of  their  native  villages  by  the  pres- 
sure of  natural  increase,  sought  jobs  in  the  rising 
industrial  towns,  such  as  Ekaterinoslav,  Lodz,  Baku, 


BACKGROUND  OF  THE  TOILING  MASSES      21 

Rostov,  Ivanovo- Vosnesensk  and  Kharkov,  to  say 
nothing  of  Petrograd  and  Moscow.  So  absentee 
capitalism  became  maker  of  a  new  Eussia. 

The  type  of  capitalist  industry  which  struck  root 
in  Russia  was  naturally  ultra  modern.  It  is  where 
capitalism  comes,  as  it  were,  "of  a  piece,"  that  it 
starts  with  giant  units.  Nowhere  else,  not  even  in 
America  the  proverbial  home  of  large-scale  enter- 
prises, is  the  representative  factory  so  big  as  in 
Russia.  In  1890  there  were  only  108  factories  in 
Russia  employing  a  thousand  or  more  workers  each ; 
in  1902  there  were  262  such  plants  with  626,500  op- 
eratives. Monster  plants  of  10,000  or  more  hands 
are  by  no  means  rare.  In  Nijni  Novgorod  I  heard 
mention  of  the  delegates  of  workers  from  a  certain 
concern.  "How  many  does  it  employ?"  I  asked. 
* '  Oh,  about  twenty-five  thousand ! ' '  During  the  war 
the  Putilov  works  in  Petrograd  came  to  enroll  50,- 
000.  Of  course,  in  such  colossi  all  the  character- 
istic features  of  capitalist  industry  are  present  in 
exaggerated  form.  Moreover,  the  concentration  of 
workers  makes  it  easy  to  rule  and  sway  and  wield 
them.  Thus  the  average  Russian  cotton-mill  can 
pro\ade  the  agitator  with  an  audience  of  near  700. 

These  three  or  four  millions  of  factory  workers, , 
largely  of  rural  origin,  submitted  to  the  mentally 
stimulating  influence  of  city  life  and  collective  la- 
bor, quickly  outgrow  the  simple  ideas  and  low 
standards  of  living  of  the  peasantry.  The  indus- 
trial worker  learns  to  read  and  write,  acquires  self- 
respect,  and  gains  a  notion  of  how  a  civilized  human 
being  ought  to  live.    He  wishes  to  wear  good  clothes 


22      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

and  present  a  ''decent"  appearance.    He  resents 
having  to  rear  his  family  in  a  sty.    But  what  can 
he  do  on  his  wages! 
Says  Kovalevsky: 

Our  agrarian  system  creates  millions  of  proletarians 
looking  for  jobs.  Although  very  high  prices  for  our  manu- 
factured products  are  maintained  by  our  protective  tariff, 
our  home  industries  cannot  grow  fast  enough  to  give  em- 
ployment to  all  who  seek  it.  Moreover,  wages  remain  very 
low.  Nowhere  in  the  world  is  there  an  industry  which 
pays  labor  as  little  as  ours.  To  judge  the  advantages 
which  our  manufacturers  enjoy  I  would  only  need  to  jux- 
tapose the  figures  of  the  profits  made  by  Russian  manufac- 
turers and  foreign  manufacturers;  but  I  prefer  to  limit 
myself  to  this  simple  statement  of  fact.  On  the  average 
the  English  workingman  gets  $291  a  year,  the  French 
workingman  $286,  the  German  $239,  the  Austrian  $170; 
but  the  Russian  workingman  earns  less  than  $127  a  year. 
Even  taking  into  account  the  greater  efficiency  and  skill 
of  the  foreign  worker  one  must  recognize  that  the  Russian 
manufacturer  enjoys  a  marked  advantage  in  paying  his 
workingmen  so  little.^ 

In  1912,  wdien  raw  immigrant  labor  commanded 
$1.65  a  day  in  the  industrial  centers  of  the  United 
States,  this  class  of  labor  was  paid  about  30  cents 
a  day  in  the  industrial  centers  of  Russia.  In  1917 
I  met  a  machinist  who  had  worked  in  all  the  big 
centers  of  Russia  and  never  received  more  than  85 
cents  a  day.  Coming  to  the  United  States,  he  began 
work  at  $2.75  a  day  and  in  five  years  he  had  never 
worked  for  less.  After  allowing  for  a  slightly  higher 
cost  of  living  in  the  United  States  and  bearing  in 

1  La  Ruasie  sociale  (1914),  p.  110. 


BACKGROUND  OF  THE  TOILING  MASSES      23 

mind  that  employers  reckon  Russian  skilled  labor 
as  25  or  30  per  cent,  less  efficient  than  American 
labor,  it  seems  safe  to  say  that  under  the  old  regime 
the  share  of  the  value  of  his  product  that  fell  to  the 
Eussian  factory  worker  was  but  a  third  or  a  quarter 
of  that  received  by  the  American  factory  worker! 

Proletarians  who  can  be  underpaid  with  impunity 
can  be  overworked  mth  impunity.  Hence,  the 
working  day  in  Russia  is  shamefully  long.  In  1897 
the  law  limited  the  working  day  to  111/2  hours.  But 
the  law  proved  a  dead  letter,  and,  leaving  out  of  ac- 
count holidays,  a  goodly  portion  of  the  proletariat 
— all  the  miners  for  example — pass  a  full  half  of 
life  at  their  toil. 

What  a  bagatelle  is  the  lot  of  the  hand-worker  in 
the  general  Russian  scheme  appears  vi\ndly  in 
Tolstoy's  account  of  a  little  personal  investigation 
which  set  him  to  thinking: 

An  acquaintance  of  mine  who  works  on  the  Moscow- 
Kursk  Railway  as  a  weigher,  in  the  course  of  conversa- 
tion mentioned  to  me  that  the  men  who  load  the  goods  on 
to  his  scales  work  for  thirty-seven  hours  on  end. 

.  .  .  The  weigher  narrated  the  conditions  under  which 
this  work  is  done  so  exactly  that  there  was  no  room  left 
for  doubt.  He  told  me  that  there  are  two  hundred  and 
fifty  such  goods-porters  at  the  Kursk  station  in  Moscow. 
They  were  all  divided  into  gangs  of  five  men,  and  were 
on  piece-work,  receiving  from  one  ruble  to  IR.  15  [fifty 
to  fifty-eight  cents]  for  one  thousand  poods  [over  sixteen 
tons]  of  goods  received  or  despatched. 

They  come  in  the  morning,  work  for  a  day  and  a  night 
at  unloading  the  trucks,  and  in  the  morning,  as  soon  as  the 
night  is  ended,  they  begin  to  re-load,  and  work  on  for 


24.      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

another  day.  So  that"  in  two  days  they  get  one  night's 
sleep. 

The  account  given  by  the  weigher  was  so  circumstantial 
that  it  was  impossible  to  doubt  it,  but,  nevertheless,  I  de- 
cided to  verify  it  with  my  own  eyes,  and  I  went  to  the 
goods-station. 

Their  work  always  keeps  them  occupied  more  than 
thirty-six  hours  running,  because  it  takes  more  than  half 
an  hour  to  get  to  their  lodgings  and  from  their  lodgings, 
and  besides,  they  are  often  kept  at  work  beyond  the  time 
fixed. 

Paying  for  their  own  food,  they  earn,  by  such  thirty- 
seven-hour-on-end  work,  about  twenty-five  rubles  a  month. 

To  my  question,  why  they  did  such  convict  work,  they 
replied : 

"Where  is  one  to  go  to?" 

''But  why  work  thirty-seven  hours  on  end?  Cannot  the 
work  be  arranged  in  shifts?" 

''We  do  what  we  're  told  to." 

' '  Yes ;  but  why  do  you  agree  to  it  ?  " 

"We  agree  because  we  have  to  feed  ourselves,  'If  you 
don 't  like  it — be  off ! '  If  one  's  even  an  hour  late  one  has 
one's  ticket  shied  at  one  and  is  told  to  march;  and  there 
are  ten  men  ready  to  take  the  place." 

The  men  were  all  young,  only  one  was  somewhat  older, 
perhaps  about  forty.  All  their  faces  were  lean,  and  had 
exhausted,  weary  eyes,  as  though  the  men  were  drunk. 

Seeing  my  interest  in  their  position,  they  surrounded 
me,  and,  probably  taking  me  for  an  inspector,  several  of 
them  speaking  at  once,  informed  me  of  what  was  evidently 
their  chief  subject  of  complaint  —  namely,  that  the  apart- 
ment in  which  they  could  sometimes  warm  themselves  and 
snatch  an  hour's  sleep  between  the  day-work  and  the 
night-work  was  crowded.  All  of  them  expressed  great 
dissatisfaction  at  this  crowding. 

"There  may  be  one  hundred  men,  and  nowhere  to  lie 


BACKGROUND  OF  THE  TOILING  MASSES      25 

down;  even  under  the  shelves  it  is  crowded,"  said  dis- 
satisfied voices.  ''Have  a  look  at  it  yourself.  It  is  close 
here." 

The  room  was  certainly  not  large  enough.  In  the  thirty- 
six-foot  room  about  forty  men  might  find  place  to  lie  down 
on  the  shelves. 

Some  of  the  men  entered  the  room  with  me,  and  they 
vied  with  each  other  in  complaining  of  the  scantiness  of 
the  accommodation. 

"Even  under  the  shelves  there  is  nowhere  to  lie  down," 
said  they. 

These  men,  who  in  twenty  degrees  of  frost,  without 
overcoats,  carry  on  their  backs  twenty-stone  loads  during 
thirty-six  hours;  who  dine  and  sup  not  when  they  need 
food,  but  when  their  overseer  allows  them  to  eat;  living 
altogether  in  conditions  far  worse  than  those  of  dray- 
horses,  it  seemed  strange  that  these  people  only  complained 
of  insufficient  accommodation  in  the  room  where  they 
warm  themselves.  But  though  this  seemed  to  me  strange 
at  first,  yet,  entering  further  into  their  position,  I  under- 
stood what  a  feeling  of  torture  these  men,  who  never  get 
enough  sleep,  and  who  are  half-frozen,  must  experience 
when,  instead  of  resting  and  being  warmed,  they  have  to 
creep  on  the  dirty  floor  under  the  shelves,  and  there,  in 
the  stuffy  and  vitiated  air,  become  yet  weaker  and  more 
broken  down. 

Only,  perhaps,  in  that  miserable  hour  of  vain  attempt  to 
get  rest  and  sleep  do  they  painfully  realise  all  the  horror 
of  their  life-destroying  thirty-seven-hour  work,  and  that 
is  why  they  are  specially  agitated  by  such  an  apparently 
insignificant  circumstance  as  the  ovBrcrowding  of  their 
room.^ 

As  is  to  be  expected  of  a  people  that  has  not  had 
time  to  straighten  up  since  the  yoke  of  serfdom  was 

1  Tolstoy,  The  Slavery  of  Owr  Times,  pp.  3-12  passim. 


26      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

lifted  from  its  neck,  the  workingman  does  not  deal 
with  his  master  on  a  level.  The  employer  con- 
ceives himself  as  a  benefactor  of  his  men.  They 
are  expected  to  be  grateful  to  him  for  giving  them 
work.  The  tone  of  the  factory  administration  is 
arrogant  and  harsh.  It  is  quite  common  to  search 
the  workers,  men  and  women  alike,  on  their  leaving 
the  factory  premises.  Cuffs  and  kicks  are  freely 
dealt  out,  so  that  the  factory  inspectors  cite  nine 
thousand  charges  of  physical  ill  treatment  brought 
against  employers  in  a  single  year.  Further  light 
on  the  status  of  the  Russian  operative  is  shed  by  the 
fact  that  in  1912  the  workers  in  4,245  establishments 
paid  four  millio7i  fines,  aggregating  $350,000. 

With  his  wages  of  30  to  50  cents  a  day  what  sort 
of  habitation  can  the  Russian  unskilled  worker  af- 
ford?   Professor  Tugan-Baranov ski  whites : 

The  sanitary  and  hygienic  conditions  of  the  Russian  fac- 
tory are  horrible.  Only  a  few  factories  have  dormitories 
for  their  workmen  and  what  kind  of  dormitories!  Men, 
women  and  children  sleep  side  by  side  on  wooden  benches, 
in  damp,  sultry  and  crowded  barracks,  sometimes  in  cel- 
lars, often  in  rooms  without  windows.  Most  of  the  fao- 
tories  have  no  dormitories  at  all.  In  a  workday  of 
twelve,  thirteen  and  fourteen  hours  the  workmen  lie  down 
to  sleep  in  the  workshop  itself,  on  stands,  bench  boards 
or  tables,  putting  some  rags  under  their  heads.  This  is 
often  the  case  even  in  shops  where  dyes  or  chemicals  are 
used  that  impair  the  workman's  health  even  in  work  time. 

Those  who  Uved  away  from  the  factory  were  more 
independent  of  their  masters  but  not  much  more 
comfortable.  An  official  report  of  an  industrial  sub- 
urb in  the  province  of  Valdimir  speaks  of 


BACKGROUND  OF  THE  TOILING  MASSES      27 

the  slobodki,  noisy,  motley,  gaudily  coloured  quarters  out- 
side the  protection  of  the  administration  of  the  cities,  out- 
side the  archaic  power  of  the  rural  mir.  Only  the  police 
had  access  at  every  hour  of  the  day  and  night  to  these 
muddy  haunts.  The  slobodki,  with  their  miserable  dolls' 
houses  and  their  narrow  streets,  remind  one  of  a  gipsy 
encampment,  the  ephemeral  home  of  circus-folk,  where  all 
is  changing  and  impermanent.  There  is  a  constant  coming 
and  going ;  like  so  many  mushrooms  the  little  yellow  houses 
rise  singly  in  the  midst  of  fields,  covered  with  rubbish. 
They  begin  to  appear  in  rows,  finally  they  can  no  longer 
contain  their  inhabitants.  Then  fresh  dolls'  houses  begin 
to  rise  beside  the  court-yards  of  the  others;  not  a  birch- 
tree,  not  a  bush  to  be  seen ;  nothing  but  dust  and  mud  and 
rubbish  in  the  streets,  soot  and  smoke  and  the  rumble  of 
factories  in  the  air.^ 

Tender  always  of  the  interests  of  the  capitalists, 
the  Romanov  regime  frowned  upon  any  combined 
action  of  the  workers  to  push  up  their  wages. 
Strikes  were  punishable  by  from  two  to  four  months 
imprisonment,  agitation  for  a  strike  by  double. 
Nevertheless,  under  such  repression  there  were 
more  strikes  in  Russia  than  in  France,  Austria,  or 
Italy.  In  1905  the  anti-strike  law  was  repealed,  but 
the  Government  continued  to  prosecute  strikers 
when  it  felt  itself  strong  enough  to  do  so. 

In  1906  a  stern  law  was  directed  against  agri- 
cultural laborers  aiming  to  improve  their  lot  by  col- 
lective action.  It  punished  strikes  on  the  farm  with 
imprisonment  for  from  two  to  eight  months ;  an  un- 
successful attempt  to  foment  a  strike  with  from  two 
to  four  months;  membership  in  a  society  to  foment 

1  Alexinsky,  Modern  Russia,  p.  131. 


28      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

such  strikes  with  imprisonment  in  a  fortress  for 
from  sixteen  months  to  four  years. 

Worried  by  the  marked  industrial  unrest,  tsarism 
rears  a  noble-looking  legislation  on  behalf  of  labor. 
It  restricts  the  night  work  of  women  and  children, 
limits  the  working  day,  provides  for  accident  com- 
pensation and  sets  up  an  elaborate  system  of  fac- 
tory inspection.  But  the  fair  outside  of  the  indus- 
trial code  hides  much  rottenness.  In  secret  cir- 
culars the  Minister  of  the  Interior  orders  the  factory 
inspectors  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  prevent  strikes. 
If,  nevertheless,  a  strike  occurs,  they  are  to  give  the 
strikers  to  understand  that  they  will  gain  no  con- 
cessions from  their  masters  until  they  return  to 
work.  The  employer  who  yields  to  the  demands  of 
the  strikers  will  feel  the  displeasure  of  a  govern- 
ment which  aims  to  keep  labor  cheap  and  in  its  place. 

Down  to  the  Revolution  of  1905  the  Government 
sought  to  repress  or  control  labor  unions.  Twenty 
years  ago  it  sent  out  its  secret  agents  to  form 
"safe"  organizations.  The  workers  who  innocently 
poured  into  these  unions  often  took  the  bit  in  their 
teeth  and  ran  them  for  their  own  purposes,  and  at 
their  meetings  the  ''reds"  debated  with  the  "blacks" 
and  sometimes  carried  the  government  unions  right 
into  the  camp  of  the  Social  Democrats.  During  the 
brief  "period  of  liberties"  proletarian  organization 
went  forward  so  fast  that  by  the  end  of  1906  a  quar- 
ter of  a  million  workers  were  in  unions.  The  Gov- 
ernment, however,  hurried  to  the  relief  of  the  be- 
leaguered capitalists.  It  jailed  organizers,  arrested 
trade-union  officials,  suppressed  the  labor  press,  and 
dissolved  workers'  organizations,  till  once  more  the 


BACKGROUND  OP  THE  TOILING  MASSES      29 

wage  earner  stood  nearly  defenseless  before  his  em- 
ployer. 

The  thinking  proletarian  therefore  hates  the  bour- 
geois class,  whom  he  regards  as  greedy  exploiters, 
and  is  rebellious  against  the  government  which 
lends  itself  to  their  game.  In  vain  does  autocracy 
profess  to  shelter  him  with  labor  laws  of  the  most 
advanced  type  and  encourage  workers'  organiza- 
tions which  shall  be  innocent  of  "political"  aims. 
Behind  its  smile  he  sees  a  stem  and  cruel  organ- 
ization of  force  quaking  before  the  elementary 
power  exhibited  by  the  proletarian  masses  in  move- 
ment.^ Quite  naturally,  he  will  be  unreasonably 
critical  and  suspicious  of  any  Russian  government 
which  does  not  spring  from  the  toilers  themselves. 

THE   soldier's   BACKGROUND    OF    EXPERIENCE 

The  Revolution  finds  about  sixteen  million  men — 
a  tenth  of  the  population  remaining  in  the  country 
— in  Russian  uniform.  Half  of  them  are  guarding 
communications  or  undergoing  training  in  various 
interior  cities  and  to\vns,  but  the  other  half  is  at  the 
front  in  actual  contact  with  the  war.  What  has  been 
the  experience  which  will  determine  how  these  men 
will  respond  to  the  vistas  opened  by  the  Revolution? 

1  An  incident  which  occurred  in  1910  opened  the  eyes  of  many  to 
the  real  feeling  of  the  Government  toward  the  workers.  The  coal 
miners  on  the  river  Lena  had  struck  against  their  miserable  rate  of 
pay.  They  had  assembled  and  marclied  through  the  streets  but 
without  arms  in  their  hands  and  with  neither  the  intention  nor  the 
means  of  using  violence.  The  Government  refused  to  listen  to  them 
and  simply  ordered  the  soldiers  to  open  fire  upon  the  defenseless 
crowds.  Two  hundred  were  killed  outright.  This  needless  butchery 
sent  a  thrill  of  horror  throughout  Russia.  A  question  was  asked 
about  it  in  the  Duma,  but  the  minister  responsible  merely  answered 
with  cynical  insolence  "So  it  was,  so  it  will  be." 


30      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

One  need  not  expect  in  them  the  psychology  of  the 
professional  soldier.  Among  the  million  and  a  half 
first-line  soldiers  the  tsar  threw  into  the  war  arena 
in  August,  1914,  a  great  number  looked  upon  war  as 
their  trade.  There  were  many  corps  of  men  who  in 
the  military  colonies  planted  along  the  marches  of 
the  empire,  on  the  lower  Don,  north  of  the  Caucasus, 
fronting  Turkestan,  and  in  Eastern  Siberia,  had 
from  their  youth  up  dedicated  themselves  to  Mars. 
They  were  in  honor  bound  to  fight  for  their  imperial 
master  when  called  on,  for  they  had  received  land  on 
that  express  condition.  But  in  this  third  year  of  the 
war  few  of  these  watch-dogs  of  the  tsar  remain. 
They  have  been  invalided  or  impounded  in  German 
prison  camps,  or  their  bones  lie  under  the  tortured 
battle-fields  of  Poland  and  Galicia.  Their  place  has 
been  filled  by  common  raw  peasants  who  for  genera- 
tions have  looked  upon  the  three  or  four  years  of  ex- 
acted military  service  as  a  calamity.  Always,  the 
leaving  of  the  young  conscripts  from  the  village  has 
been  an  occasion  of  weeping  and  lamentation. 
These  recruits  from  the  plow-tail  love  not  fighting 
for  its  own  sake  and  will  want  to  know  why  they 
must  suffer  and  die.  Russia's  covenants  with  the 
Allies  were  drawn  by  the  tsar's  ministers  and  have 
never  been  communicated  to  the  world.  To  the  Rus- 
sian soldiers  the  war  aims  of  their  Government  have 
never  been  explained  as  those  of  the  United  States 
were  explained — at  length  and  with  great  care — to 
the  young  American  soldiers  in  their  training-camps. 

Under  the  old  regime,  discipline  in  the  sense  of  obedi- 
ence prompted  by  respect  for  the  worth  and  rank  of  one's 
officer  scarcely  existed.     Things  were  so  bad  that  Grand 


BACKGROUND  OP  THE  TOILING  MASSES      31 

Duke  Nicholas  authorized  an  officer  to  shoot  down  at  once 
any  man  who  failed  to  obey  his  first  order.  The  terror- 
istic system  emploj^ed  against  the  men  is  illustrated  by  an 
incident  told  me  by  an  army  surgeon  who  witnessed  it. 
A  man  of  the  sanitary  squad  while  getting  his  pay  re- 
marked to  the  company  secretary  that  it  was  queer  that 
sanitars  and  orderlies  had  not  been  included  in  the  Easter 
distribution  of  presents  among  the  soldiers.  The  secretary 
tattled  this  remark  to  the  commandant,  who  thereupon  beat 
the  sanitar  with  his  fist  and,  when  the  prostrate  man  pro- 
tested, threatened  to  shoot  him  if  he  uttered  another  word. 
The  man  was  then  stood  up  for  two  hours  in  front  of  a 
trench  for  the  Germans  to  shoot  at,  and  a  squad  of  fifty 
men  were  ordered  to  defile  him.  "When  they  refused,  they 
were  punished  by  being  made  to  stand  at  attention  for 
two  hours  under  enemy  fire. 

Among  the  officers  themselves  there  was  little  discipline. 
They  drank  heavily,  gambled  with  cards,  had  loose  women 
in  their  quarters,  and  disregarded  many  general  orders  aim- 
ing to  regulate  their  conduct  in  the  interest  of  the  service. 
Sometimes  the  men  were  sent  into  an  unauthorized  and 
utterly  hopeless  attack  by  their  drunken  officers.  Scandal- 
ous, too,  wa«  the  neglect  of  the  sick  and  wounded  by  those 
in  places  of  authority.  As  a  result,  the  men  hated  their 
officers.^. 

The  famous  organizer  of  the  Women's  Battalion, 
Maria  Botchkareva,  testifies  to  the  feeling  among 
the  soldiers  that  they  were  betrayed  by  certain  high 
officers : 

There  had  been  rumors  aplenty  in  the  trenches  of  pro- 
German  officials  in  the  army  and  the  Court.  We  had  our 
suspicions,  too,  and  now  they  were  confirmed  in  a  shock- 
ing manner. 

General  Walter  paid  a  visit  to  the  front  line.    He  was 

iBoss,  Russia  in  Upheaval,  pp.  229-230. 


32      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

known  to  be  of  German  blood,  and  his  harsh  treatment  of 
the  soldiers  won  for  him  the  cordial  hatred  of  the  rank 
and  file.  The  General,  accompanied  by  a  considerable 
suite  of  officers  and  men,  exposed  himself  on  his  tour  of 
inspection  of  our  trenches  completely  without  attracting  a 
single  enemy  bullet !  It  was  unthinkable  to  us  who  had  to 
crawl  on  our  bellies  to  obtain  some  water.  And  here  was 
this  party  in  open  view  of  the  enemy  who  kept  such  a 
strange  silence. 

The  General  acted  queerly.  He  would  stop  at  points 
where  the  barbed  wire  was  torn  open  or  where  the  fortifica- 
tions were  weak  and  wipe  his  face  with  his  kerchief. 
There  was  a  general  murmur  among  the  men.  The  word 
"treason!"  was  uttered  by  many  lips  in  suppressed  tones. 
The  officers  were  indignant  and  called  the  General's  atten- 
tion to  the  unnecessary  danger  to  which  he  exposed  him- 
self. But  the  General  ignored  their  warnings,  remarking, 
''Nitchevo!"     ("It  's  nothing.") 

The  discipline  was  so  rigorous  that  no  one  dared  to  argue 
the  matter  with  the  General.  The  officers  cursed,  when  he 
left.     The  men  muttered: 

"  He  is  selling  us  out  to  the  enemy ! ' ' 

Half  an  hour  after  his  departure  the  Germans  opened 
a  tremendous  fire.  It  was  particularly  directed  against 
those  points  at  which  the  General  had  stopped,  reducing 
their  incomplete  defenses  to  dust.  We  thought  at  first 
that  the  enemy  intended  to  launch  an  ofiPensive,  but  our 
expectations  did  not  materialize.  He  merely  continued 
Jhis  violent  bombardment,  wounding  and  burying  alive 
hundreds.  The  cries  of  the  men  were  such  that  rescue 
work  could  not  be  postponed.  While  the  shelling  was  still 
going  on  I  took  charge  and  dressed  some  hundred  and  fifty 
wounds.  If  General  Walter  had  appeared  in  our  midst  at 
that  moment  the  men  would  never  have  let  him  get  away 
alive,  so  intense  was  their  feeling.^ 

lYaahka,  pp.  103-104. 


BACKGROUND  OF  THE  TOILING  MASSES       33 

As  the  war  drags  on  and  the  early  hopes  wither, 
tales  of  the  stupidity  and  corruption  of  which  the 
war-makers  have  been  guilty  seep  down  to  the  ranks. 
Thus  the  high  command  took  all  the  steel  output  for 
cannon  and  shells,  leaving  none  for  the  needs  of  the 
railways,  factories,  and  farms.  The  high  command 
took  skilled  engine-drivers  and  telegraphers  from 
their  work  and  sent  them  to  the  front  because  their 
unions  were  reputed  to  be  revolutionary.  Millions 
upon  millions  of  peasants  were  needlessly  called 
away  from  the  production  of  food,  leaving  the  fields 
to  be  worked  by  women  and  old  men.  At  one  time 
more  than  four  million  men  were  assembled  in  in- 
terior camps  who  had  no  officers  to  drill  them  and 
no  rifles  to  drill  mth.^ 

The  President  of  the  Duma  returning  from  the  front 
where  he  had  seen  soldiers  with  their  feet  protected  only 
by  rags  torn  from  tents  asked  permission  of  the  Minister 
of  the  Interior  to  call  a  conference  of  zemstvos  to  organize 
a  supply  of  boots  to  the  army.  The  reply  he  received  was : 
"I  know  why  you  want  a  conference — you  want  to  spread 
revolutionary  ideas." - 

At  the  trial  of  the  former  Minister  of  War  Souk- 
homlinov  in  August,  1917,  the  evidence  as  to  the 
suffering  of  the  soldiers  from  the  incompetence  of 
the  tsar's  bureaucrats  is  heartrending.  Russia 
began  the  war  short  even  of  rifles  for  the  four  and 
a  half  million  men  she  called  out.     The  very  first 

1  Never  has  the  world  seen  such  shocking  waste  of  labor  power, 
such  rotting  of  workers'  morale  as  I  saw  in  the  garrison  towns  of 
Russia  in  1917.  Drilling  had  become  a  thing  of  the  past.  When 
they  were  not  playing  cards  in  the  barracks  the  soldiers  crowded  the 
tram-cars  and  loafed  about  Ihe  streets  nibbling  sunflower  seeds. 

2  Wilcox,  Russia's  Ruin,  p.  89. 


34      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

reinforcing  drafts  which  left  for  the  front  had  only 
one  rifle  for  every  two  men.  Then  it  became  one 
for  every  four,  six,  eight,  ten,  till  at  last  whole  com- 
panies arrived  without  a  rifle  among  them.  Gen- 
eral Yanoushkevitch  knew  cases  in  which  the  Rus- 
sian soldiers  had  taken  off  their  boots  and  fought 
with  them!  General  Velitchko  testified  that  for  a 
long  time  the  soldiers  not  only  were  trained  ex- 
clusively with  sticks  but  took  them  into  the  trenches 
as  their  sole  weapons  and  at  one  period  forty  thou- 
sand were  waiting  near  Tarnapol  "literally  with 
empty  hands."  Rodzianko  w^as  wdth  the  army  when 
the  Russians  could  fire  only  three  rounds  at  the  at- 
tacking enemy  and  had  to  beat  him  off  with  sticks 
and  stones.  "It  is  impossible,"  he  added,  "to  de- 
scribe what  our  troops  suffered,  and  yet  naked,  bare- 
foot, and  unarmed,  they  fought  like  lions." 

Guchkov  saw  Siberian  soldiers  under  fire  in  the 
Galician  trenches  "without  even  sticks,"  while  seven 
miles  away  sixteen  thousand  men  w^aited  for  the 
rifles  of  dead  and  wounded  comrades ! 

Even  more  ghastly  in  its  results  was  the  shortage 
of  shells.  Before  the  war  broke  out  the  Ministry 
had  ordered  the  shells  for  its  new  artillery  program 
from  German  factories.  Of  course,  they  were  never 
delivered.  There  were  instances  in  which  the  Rus- 
sian artillerymen  were  limited  to  one  round  per  day, 
while  the  opposing  batteries  were  firing  thousands  of 
shells.  The  thrusting  of  the  Russian  Army  from 
Galicia  in  the  spring  of  1915  was  one  of  the  most  ap- 
palling tragedies  in  history.  Some  seven  hundred 
thousand  shells  burst  above  the  shallow  Russian 
trenches,  while  the   Russians  had  no  ammunition 


BACKGROUND  OF  THE  TOILING  MASSES      35 

with  which  to  make  reply.  Pitted  against  twenty- 
four  army  corps,  the  devoted  Russian  army  of  four- 
teen corps  had  to  retreat.  The  horrible  needless 
slaughter  of  brave,  half-armed,  unprotected  men 
left  a  bitterness  which  made  men  welcome  revolu- 
tion. 

By  the  spring  of  1917  Russia  has  lost  in  killed,  in- 
valided, and  prisoners  four  millions  of  men.  The 
country  is  nearly  ' '  bled  white. ' '  In  the  factories  one 
sees  only  elderly  men  or  men  of  poor  physique. 
Women  work  the  fields,  patch  the  railway  embank- 
ment, care  for  the  incoming  trains,  handle  freight, 
and  carry  luggage.  The  villages  are  bare  of  hale 
young  men.  Trade  is  half-dead.  In  nearly  deserted 
streets  of  the  Volga  cities  my  footsteps  echo  drear- 
ily. Many  restaurants,  resorts,  and  places  of  amuse- 
ment have  put  up  the  shutters.  What  shops  re- 
main have  scarcely  anything  to  sell.  The  famed 
Fair  of  Nijni  Novgorod  is  but  the  shadow  of  its  old 
self.  Miles  upon  miles  of  booths  are  not  opened, 
while  those  that  open  soon  sell  out  their  scanty  stock 
and  put  up  the  boarcjs  again. 

Germany,  hitherto  Russia's  chief  source  of  supply 
of  manufactured  goods,  is  cut  off.  Submarines 
make  it  difficult  to  trade  with  Britain.  Russia's 
factories  are  busy  on  war  orders.  The  Trans-Si- 
berian Railway  cannot  move  the  flood  of  American 
and  Japanese  goods  that  pours  into  Vladivostok. 
At  one  time  a  million  tons  of  freight  lie  there  wait- 
ing shipment  to  European  Russia.  For  blocks  the 
trains  move  between  veritable  mountains  of  perish- 
able goods  under  matting  or  tarpaulins. 

Meanwhile,  necessities  are  almost  unobtainable  in 


36       THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

Eussia.  People  stand  all  night  in  line  in  late  autumn 
for  a  chance  at  a  pair  of  boots  or  a  blanket.  The 
earnings  of  a  month  will  not  buy  covering  for  one 's 
feet.  Even  before  the  deluge  of  paper  rubles  an 
overcoat  cost  six  times  what  it  used  to.  Excepting 
the  rich,  the  city  people  are  underfed  and  ill  clad. 
The  peasants  have  enough  of  their  coarse  food,  but 
the  shelves  of  their  cooperatives  are  nearly  bare:. 
there  are  no  supplies  of  hardware,  harness,  tools,  and 
clothing.  So  they  get  along  as  best  they  can  with 
their  cotton  rags,  their  sheepskins,  and  their  home- 
spuns. 

But  why  should  economic  collapse  have  arrived 
earlier  in  Russia  than  in  any  of  the  other  belligerent 
nations?  Besides  governmental  incompetence,  al- 
ready mentioned,  there  was  in  Russia's  industrial 
situation  a  factor  peculiar  to  her. 

The  Russian  bourgeois  and  aristocracy,  though 
educated,  charming,  and  as  delightful  people  around 
a  dinner-table  as  one  could  wish  to  meet,  courteous 
and  generous,  did  not  have  the  genius  for  engineer- 
ing or  for  economic  management.  They  had  a  ge- 
nius, and  a  virile  one,  but  it  turned  rather  toward  the 
ballet  and  the  opera,  painting  and  music,  literature, 
expansive  ideas  of  life  and  thought.  They  could 
talk  for  hours,  interesting!}^  and  informingly,  of  the 
philosophies  of  the  world;  the  languages  of  the 
world  they  had  at  their  tongue's  tip.  Being  very 
rich,  having  a  large  surplus  of  financial  resources, 
they  hired  the  nearest  effective  person  to  be  over- 
seer of  the  estate,  and  that  nearest  person  was  in 
almost  every  instance  a  German  or  an  Austrian, 
who  had  been  instructed  as  to  Russian  resources, 


BACKGROUND  OP  THE  TOILING  MASSES       37 

needs,  and  conditions,  and  often,  no  doubt,  was  un- 
der secret  government  subsidy  for  the  very  definite 
purpose  of  penetration  of  the  Russian  land.  These 
constituted  the  brain  at  the  top  of  the  Russian  eco- 
nomic system.  As  soon  as  the  war  broke  they 
abandoned  their  tasks,  many  of  them  returning  to 
Vienna  and  Berlin,  expecting  to  come  again  on  the 
heels  of  a  victorious  army  and  own  what  they  had 
previously  managed ;  while  others  submerged,  to  be- 
come secret  information  agents  of  the  German  gen- 
eral staff.  These  economic  ministers  of  the  Russian 
world  sabotaged  as  they  went.  There  are  certain 
well-authenticated  instances  of  their  setting  fire  to 
oil-fields,  letting  water  into  coal-mines,  etc.  Hence, 
within  a  fortnight  after  the  declaration  of  war,  there 
began  a  paralysis  at  the  top  of  the  economic  system 
in  Russia.  That  paralysis  extended  steadily  down 
all  the  nerves  of  the  system,  so  that  increasing  mis- 
ery and  want  manifested  itself  in  the  cities  and  rural 
districts.  That  this  really  took  place  under  the 
tsar's  regime,  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  the  first 
revolution  was  preceded  by  bread  riots  in  Petro- 
grad  and  Moscow.  Why  bread  riots  if  the  economic 
system  was  functioning?  This  economic  paralysis, 
which  starved  the  army  and  the  factory  workers  and 
broke  the  heart  of  the  Russian  resistance  to  the 
German  power,  was  a  fundamental  thing  in  the  disin- 
tegration of  both  the  army  and  the  social  life  of 
Russia. 

Yes,  the  Russians  are  very  war-weary, — not  be- 
cause they  are  ''yellow"  or  ''quitters,"  but  because 
they  are  human.  They  have  gained  nothing  from  the 
game  the  autocracy  thrust  them  into.     More  than 


38      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

any  of  their  allies  they  have  suffered  appalling 
losses  without  being  able  to  inflict  punishment  upon 
their  enem3\  They  are  nearing  the  point  of  asking 
why  the  blood-letting  must  still  go  on. 

Most  of  the  older  line  officers  of  pre-war  training 
have  been  ground  up  between  the  cogs  of  the  war 
machine.  The  new  junior  oflScers — young  men  from 
civil  life,  many  of  them  former  students  and  teach- 
ers— are  frequently  liberal  in  their  views  and  hu- 
mane in  the  treatment  of  their  men.  In  the  army, 
save  in  the  general  staff,  the  machine-like  military 
type  of  mind  is  nearly  extinct  and  more  and  more 
the  reaction  of  the  front  is  that  of  plain  human  be- 
ings who  have  suffered  and  are  suffering  unspeak- 
ably. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  PROVISIONAL  GOVERNMENT 

THE  Provisional  Government,  which  for  eight 
months  held  power  in  Russia  until  it  was  over- 
turned by  the  Soviets,  has  its  origin  in  the  initiative 
of  the  dominating  element  in  the  State  Duma.  On 
Sunday,  March  11,  1917,  the  President  of  the  Duma, 
Rodzianko,  sent  to  the  tsar  at  staff  headquarters  the 
following  telegram : 

The  situation  is  serious.  There  is  anarchy  at  the  Capi- 
tal. The  Government  is  paralyzed.  The  situation  as  re- 
gards transportation,  food  supplies  and  fuel  has  reached 
a  state  of  complete  disorganization.  Public  dissatisfac- 
tion is  growing.  Disorderly  shooting  is  taking  place  on 
the  streets.  Different  sections  of  the  troops  are  shooting 
at  .each  other.  It  is  necessary  immediately  to  entrust  a 
person  who  has  the  confidence  of  the  country  with  the  crea- 
tion of  a  new  government.  It  is  impossible  to  delay.  Any 
delay  is  fatal.  I  pray  to  God  that  at  this  hour  the  re- 
sponsibility shall  not  fall  upon  the  Crown-bearer. 

On  the  same  date  Rodzianko  sent  to  all  the  com- 
manders-in-chief of  the  army  an  identical  telegram, 
adding  to  it  the  request  that  they  support  the  appeal 
of  the  President  of  the  Duma  to  the  tsar.  General 
Brussilov  replied:  ''Your  telegram  received.  I 
have  done  my  duty  to  the  Fatherland  and  the  tsar. ' ' 
General  Ruzsky  replied :  ' '  Telegram  received.  Re- 
quest executed." 

39 


40      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  Eodzianko's  urgent  telegram 
did  not  reach  the  tsar.  It  was  withheld  by  the  pal- 
ace commandant,  General  Voyeikov,  who  no  doubt 
considered  it  useless  to  acquaint  his  master  with 
the  demand  for  responsible  government  in  view  of 
the  fact  that  on  the  previous  day  an  order  had  gone 
out  from  the  tsar  dismissing  the  Duma  until  some 
time  in  April.  The  general  could  not  have  antici- 
pated that  when  the  council  of  party  leaders  in  the 
Duma  became  acquainted  with  the  order  for  dismis- 
sal it  would  resolve:  ''The  State  Duma  shall  not 
disperse.    Deputies  are  to  remain  in  their  places." 

On  the  morning  of  Monday,  the  twelfth,  the  Pres- 
ident of  the  Duma  sent  a  second  telegram  to  the 
tsar: 

The  situation  is  becoming  worse.  Immediate  means 
must  be  taken,  for  to-morrow  it  will  be  too  late.  The  last 
hour  has  struck  and  the  fate  of  the  Fatherland  and  the 
Dynasty  is  being  decided. 

This  telegram  also  remained  unanswered. 

Only  after  noon  of  this  day  did  the  first  detach- 
ments of  troops  present  themselves  at  the  Tauride 
Palace  where  the  Duma  was  sitting  and  proffer  it 
their  services.  As  soldiers  under  arms  marched 
into  the  huge  building,  while  telegrams  came  in  from 
generals  on  various  fronts  indicating  their  support 
of  the  Duma,  the  prospects  of  the  Eevolution 
brightened  and  steps  began  to  be  taken  to  create  a 
temporary  government.  At  half-past  two  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  the  members  of  the  Right  having 
withdrawn  in  obedience  to  the  tsar^s  order  of  dismis- 
sal, the  Duma  sat  and  came  to  the  decision  to  form 


THE  PROVISIONAL  GOVERNMENT  41 

a  provisional  committee  of  twelve  ''to  preserve  or- 
der in  Petrograd  and  to  have  communication  with 
various  institutions  and  individuals,"  a  non-com- 
mittal phrase  which  left  open  a  door  of  escape  in  case 
the  troops  at  the  front  refused  to  ratify  the  Petro- 
grad revolution  and  the  Duma  should  be  called  upon 
to  justify  its  action  before  His  Imperial  Majesty. 

At  midnight  the  committee,  consisting  of  Rod- 
zianko,  Kerensky,  Tcheidze,  Shulgin,  Miliukov, 
Karaulov,  Konovalov,  Dmitriukov,  Rzhevsky,  Shid- 
lovsky,  Nekrassov,  and  V.  N.  Lvov,  put  out  the  fol- 
lowing proclamation: 

The  Provisional  Committee  of  the  Members  of  the  State 
Duma  under  the  difficult  conditions  of  internal  disorgan- 
ization, brought  about  by  the  measures  of  the  old  govern- 
ment, has  found  itself  compelled  to  take  into  its  own  hands 
the  reestablishment  of  the  authority  of  the  State  and  pub- 
lic order.  Fully  conscious  of  the  responsibility  attaching 
to  this  decision,  the  Committee  expresses  its  confidence 
that  the  population  and  the  army  will  assist  it  in  the  dif- 
ficult problem  of  creating  a  new  government,  which  shall 
be  in  accord  with  the  desires  of  the  people  and  which  can 
rely  upon  its  support. 

[Signed]  M,  V.  Rodzianko,  Chairman  of  the  State  Duma. 

Two  hours  later  the  committee,  having  added  to 
its  membership  Colonel  Engelhardt  and  made  him 
commandant  of  the  revolutionary  Petrograd  gar- 
rison, put  forth  the  discreet  announcement: 

The  Duma  aims  to  establish  connection  between  officers 
and  privates.  Urgent  necessity  is  felt  for  the  organization 
of  the  masses  of  soldiers,  animated  by  the  best  impulses, 
who  are  not  yet  organized;  events  are  moving  too  swiftly. 

Therefore,  officers  are  invited  to  assist  the  State  Duma 


42      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

in   every   possible   manner   in   this   difficult   undertaking. 

Order  has  so  far  been  maintained  by  patrols,  organized 
by  the  Military  Commission  of  the  State  Duma  and  by 
automobiles  of  armed  people.  Measures  have  been  taken 
to  guard  the  Arsenal,  the  Mint  and  the  Peter  and  Paul 
Fortress.  Hostile  actions  against  the  Fortress  are  undesir- 
able. All  political  prisoners  who  were  confined  to  cells, 
including  the  nineteen  soldiers  who  were  arrested  during 
the  last  few  days,  have  been  set  free. 

In  spite  of  the  great  differences  of  political  and  social 
ideals  of  the  Members  of  the  State  Duma  that  make  up  the 
Provisional  Committee,  there  is  complete  unity  among  them 
at  the  present  moment.  They  are  all  confronted  with  the 
immediate  problem  of  organizing  the  elemental  movement. 

The  danger  of  disorganization  is  understood  equally  by 
all.  Citizens!  Organize  yourselves:  this  is  the  dominant 
slogan  of  the  moment. 

In  organization  there  is  salvation  and  strength.  Obey 
the  Provisional  Committee  of  the  State  Duma. 

The  reader  will  mark  that  no  revolutionary  note  is 
struck  in  this  proclamation.  No  step  is  taken  that 
does  not  look  to  restoring  order  in  a  capital  tem- 
porarily deprived  of  a  government.  Exile  in  Siberia 
is  still  to  be  reckoned  with. 

By  the  night  of  Tuesday,  the  thirteenth,  Petrograd 
was  virtually  in  the  hands  of  the  Revolutionaries. 
No  military  units  showed  fight  in  behalf  of  Nicho- 
las II.  The  bloody-minded  police,  who  from  garrets, 
belfries,  and  roofs,  had  loosed  masked  machine- 
guns  on  the  people,  were  being  hunted  out  and  killed 
in  their  nests.  Motor-cars  bristling  \vith  armed 
volunteers  dashed  madly  about  in  search  of  the  few 
remaining  embers  of  resistance.  From  Moscow 
came  the  cheering  news  that  there  the  officials  and 


THE  PROVISIONAL  GOVERNMENT  43 

police  of  the  old  regime  had  been  overcome  with  al- 
most no  bloodshed.  The  fires  had  been  extinguished 
and  the  railways  were  working.  A  city  ''mdlitia" 
had  been  hastily  enrolled  to  take  over  the  social 
functions  of  the  odious  tsarist  police,  who  had  just 
been  killed  or  jailed.  Regiment  after  regiment 
swung  into  the  Tauride  Palace  to  pay  homage  to  the 
Duma,  new  master  of  the  Russian  land.  The 
streets  were  full  of  happy  people  ready  to  fall  on  one 
another's  necks  from  love  and  joy. 

In  the  meantime  the  political  leaders  sitting  in 
close  conclave  were  hammering  out  a  government. 
To  Miliukov  it  was  given  to  announce  the  result  in 
a  speech  before  a  gathering  of  sailors,  soldiers  and 
citizens  in  the  Tauride  Palace.    He  said  in  part: 

We  are  witnessing  a  great  historic  moment.  Only 
three  days  ago  we  were  a  modest  opposition  and  the  Rus- 
sian Government  seemed  almighty.  Now  this  government 
has  fallen  into  the  mud,  part  of  which  it  became.  And 
we  and  our  friends  from  the  Left  have  been  brought  out 
by  the  revolution,  by  the  army  and  by  the  people,  to  the 
honorable  place  of  the  members  of  the  first  Russian  pub- 
lic cabinet.     [Loud  applause.] 

How  is  it  that  this  event  took  place  when  only  recently 
it  seemed  improbable?  IIow  did  it  happen  that  the  Rus- 
sian revolution  which  overthrew  forever  the  old  regime 
proved  to  be  the  swiftest  and  most  bloodless  of  all  revolu- 
tions known  in  history? 

It  happened  because  history  does  not  know  of  another 
government  so  stupid,  so  dishonest,  so  cowardly,  so  treach- 
erous as  the  government  now  overthrown,  which  has  cov- 
ered itself  with  disgrace  and  which  has  deprived  itself 
of  all  roots,  sympathies,  and  respect  which  bind  the  people 
to  a  government  which  possesses  even  a  modicum  of  power. 


44      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

We  overthrew  the  Government  easily  and  quickly,  but 
this  is  not  all  that  must  be  done.  The  other  half  of  the 
work  remains  to  be  done — and  it  is  the  bigger  half — to  keep 
in  our  hands  this  victory  so  easily  achieved.  How  can  this 
be  attained?  The  answer  is  simple  and  clear;  we  must 
organize  the  victory,  and,  in  order  to  do  this,  first  of  all 
we  must  preserve  that  unity  of  will  and  thought  which  led 
us  to  victory. 

Among  the  members  of  the  present  Cabinet  there  were 
many  ancient  and  vital  disagreements.  Perhaps  these  dis- 
agreements will  soon  become  important  and  serious,  but 
to-day  they  pale  and  disappear  before  the  all-important 
problem  still  to  be  solved,  the  problem  of  creating  a  new 
people's  government  to  take  the  place  of  the  one  which 
has  just  fallen. 

I  hear  that  I  am  asked:  "Who  elected  you?"  No  one 
elected  us,  because  if  we  were  to  wait  for  a  people 's  election 
we  could  not  tear  the  power  out  of  the  hands  of  the  enemy ; 
while  we  were  arguing  as  to  whom  we  ought  to  elect,  the 
enemy  would  succeed  in  organizing  and  would  divide  us 
and  you.  We  were  elected  by  the  Russian  Revolution. 
[Long  and  loud  applause.] 

We  will  not  retain  this  authority  for  a  moment  after 
the  freely  elected  representatives  of  the  people  will  tell  us 
that  they  wish  to  see  in  our  places  people  more  worthy  of 
their  confidence.     [Applause.] 

At  the  head  of  our  Ministry  we  placed  a  man  whose 
name  signifies  the  organized  Russian  public  [Cries: 
"Propertied  public!"],  who  was  implacably  persecuted  by 
the  old  Government :  Prince  G.  E.  Lvov,  the  head  of  the 
Russian  Zemstvo  [Cries:  "Propertied  Zemstvo!"]  will 
be  your  Premier  and  Minister  of  Interior.  He  will  replace 
his  persecutor.  You  say:  "Propertied  public?"  Yes,  but 
the  only  one  that  is  organized,  which,  therefore,  will  give 
other  classes  of  Russian  society  an  opportunity  to  organize. 
[Applause.]     But,  gentlemen,  I  am  happy  to  toll  you  that 


THE  PROVISIONAL  GOVERNMENT  45 

the  non-propertied  public  also  will  have  its  representation 
in  our  Ministry.  I  have  just  received  the  consent  of  my 
comrade,  A.  F.  Kerensky,  to  occupy  a  position  in  the  first 
Russian  public  cabinet.  [Stormy  applause.]  We  were 
infinitely  happy  to  trust  in  the  worthy  hands  of  this  public 
worker  that  ministry  in  which  he  will  render  just  punish- 
ment to  the  retainers  of  the  old  regime,  to  all  these  Stiir- 
mers  and  Sukhomlinovs.  [Applause.]  The  cowardly 
heroes  of  the  days  forever  past  will  find  themselves  by  the 
will  of  fate  not  in  the  power  of  Scheglovitov 's  justice,  but 
in  the  Ministry  of  Justice  of  A.  F.  Kerensky.  [Stormy 
applause.]  You  wish  to  know  other  names?  [Cries: 
"And  you?"]  As  for  me,  my  comrades  have  instructed 
me  to  take  the  leadership  of  the  foreign  Russian  policy. 
[Stormy  and  lengthy  applause,  developing  into  an  ova- 
tion to  the  speaker,  who  bows  on  all  sides.]  Perhaps  I 
may  prove  to  be  a  weak  minister  in  this  position,  but  I  can 
promise  you  that,  under  me,  the  secrets  of  the  Russian 
people  will  not  fall  into  the  hands  of  our  enemies.  [Long 
and  stormy  applause.]  Now,  I  will  name  a  person  whose 
name  I  know  will  raise  objections  here.  A.  I.  Guchkov 
was  my  political  enemy  [Cries:  "Friend!"]  during  the 
entire  life  of  the  State  Duma,  but  now  we  are  political 
friends  and  one  must  be  just  even  to  enemies.  Did  not 
Guchkov,  in  the  Third  Duma,  begin  the  rebuilding  of  the 
Russian  Army,  which  at  that  time  was  disorganized  by 
the  Manchurian  failure  ?  He  placed  the  first  stone  of  that 
victory  with  which  our  regenerated  and  revived  army  will 
come  out  of  the  present  great  war.  Guchkov  and  I  are 
people  of  different  types.  I  am  an  old  professor,  used  to 
reading  lectures,  and  Guchkov  is  a  man  of  action.  And 
even  now  as  I  am  speaking  to  you  in  this  hall,  Guchkov  is 
organizing  our  victory  on  the  streets  of  the  capital.  What 
would  you  say  if  instead  of  taking  charge  of  placing  troops 
at  the  railroad  stations  last  night,  at  which  we  expected 
troops  opposed  to  the  revolution,  Guchkov  had  been  tak- 


46       THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

ing  part  in  our  political  disputes  and  the  hostile  troops 
had  occupied  the  stations  and  then  had  occupied  the 
streets  and  then  even  this  hall?  What  would  have  hap- 
pened to  you  and  me?  [Cries  of  approval:  "Correct! 
How  about  the  Minister  of  Marine?"] 

The  position  of  the  Minister  of  Marine,  we  will  leave  in 
the  hands  of  Guchkov,  until  we  are  able  to  find  a  worthy 
candidate  for  it. 

Then,  we  gave  two  places  to  the  representatives  of  that 
liberal  group  of  the  Russian  bourgeoisie,  which  was  the 
first  in  Russia  to  attempt  to  organize  the  public  repre- 
sentation of  the  working  class.  [Applause  and  cries: 
"Where  is  it?"]  Gentlemen,  this  was  done  by  the  old 
Government.  A.  I.  Konovalov  helped  to  organize  the  la- 
bor group  at  the  Central  War  Industries  Committee,  and 
M.  I.  Tereshchenko  did  the  same  in  regard  to  Kiev. 
[Cries  from  the  audience:  "Who  is  Tereshchenko?"]  Yes, 
gentlemen,  this  is  a  name  which  sounds  big  in  the  South 
of  Russia.  Russia  is  great  and  it  is  difficult  to  know 
everywhere  of  our  best  people.  [Question:  "And  agricul- 
ture?"] 

Gentlemen,  in  these  days  when  the  supplying  of  the 
array  is  a  serious  and  difficult  problem,  when  the  old  Gov- 
ernment has  brought  our  Motherland  almost  to  the  edge 
of  the  precipice,  when  every  minute's  delay  threatens  to 
bring  about  hunger  riots  somewhere,  and  when  riots  have 
already  taken  place  in  some  places,  we  have  appointed  as 
Minister  of  Agriculture,  A.  I.  Shingarev,  to  whom,  we  be- 
lieve, is  assured  that  public  support,  the  absence  of  which 
assured  the  downfall  of  Mr.  Rittikh.  [Long  and  loud  ap- 
plause. Question:  "And  Ways  of  Communication?"] 
To  this  important  position  during  the  present  crisis,  we 
have  delegated  N.  V.  Nekrassov,  the  Vice  Chairman  of  the 
State  Duma,  who  is  especially  loved  by  our  Left  comrades. 
[Lively  applause.] 


THE  PROVISIONAL  GOVERNMENT  47 

Of  the  eleven  members  of  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment, four — viz.,  Miliukov,  Shingarev,  Maniulov, 
and  Nekrassov — belong  to  the  Cadet  party;  Guch- 
kov,  and  V.  N.  Lvov  are  Octobrists :  Konovalov  is  a 
Progressist;  Tereshchenko  and  Prince  Lvov  are 
non-party.  Only  Kerensky  represents  the  Social- 
ists, who  doubtless  already  constitute  the  majority 
of  the  politically  conscious  Eussians. 

The  overwhelming  preponderance  in  this  govern- 
ment of  the  representatives  of  the  propertied  re- 
flects the  relative  strength  of  parties  in  the  Duma 
rather  than  in  the  country.  The  basis  of  the  Duma 
was  exceedingly  undemocratic.  Its  members  had 
been  chosen  by  electors  selected  by  class  groups  on 
such  a  basis  that  there  would  be  one  elector  for 
every  230  of  the  landed  gentry,  for  every  1,000 
wealthy  citizens,  for  every  15,000  middle-class  citi- 
zens, for  every  60,000  peasants  and  for  every  125,- 
000  workingmen!  The  Duma,  even  after  the  ultra- 
loyalists  of  the  Eight  had  w^ithdra^vn,  was  scarcely 
more  representative  of  the  toiling  masses  than  one 
of  our  Chambers  of  Commerce  or  Merchants'  and 
Manufacturers'  Associations. 

The  "program"  of  the  new  government  was  the 
outcome  of  an  agreement  between  the  leaders  of 
th6  Duma  and  the  spokesmen  of  the  Petrograd  So- 
viet, and  included  the  following  clauses : 

(1)  An  immediate  general  amnesty  for  all  political  and 
religious  offenses,  including  terrorist  acts,  military  revolts, 
and  agrarian  crimes. 

(2)  Freedom  of  speech,  of  the  press,  of  association  and 
labor  organization,  and  the  freedom  to  strike,  with  an  ex- 


48      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

tension  of  these  liberties  to  civilians  and  soldiers  in  so  far 
as  military  and  technical  conditions  permit. 

(3)  The  abolition  of  all  social,  religious,  and  national 
restrictions. 

(4)  Immediate  preparations  for  the  summoning  of  a 
Constituent  Assembly,  which,  with  universal  suffrage  as 
a  basis,  shall  establish  the  governmental  regime  and  the 
Constitution  of  the  country. 

(5)  The  substitution  for  the  police  of  a  national  militia, 
with  elective  heads  and  subject  to  the  self-governing  bod- 
ies. 

(6)  Elections  to  be  carried  out  on  the  basis  of  universal 
suffrage. 

(7)  The  troops  that  have  taken  part  in  the  revolutionary 
movement  shall  not  be  disarmed,  and  they  are  not  to  leave 
Petrograd. 

(8)  While  severe  military  discipline  must  be  maintained 
on  active  service,  all  restrictions  upon  soldiers  in  the  en- 
joyment of  social  rights  granted  to  other  citizens  are  to  be 
abolished. 

(9)  The  Provincial  Government  wishes  to  add  that  it 
has  no  intention  of  taking  advantage  of  the  existence  of 
war  conditions  to  delay  the  realization  of  the  above-men- 
tioned measures  of  reform. 

Particularly  significant  are  Clauses  7,  8,  and  9. 
The  first  six  clauses  voice  the  aspirations  long  cher- 
ished by  the  progressive  elements  among  the  Rus- 
sian bourgeoisie.  But  the  concluding  clauses  are 
evidently  safeguards  exacted  by  the  suspicious  and 
watchful  leaders  of  the  proletariat.  These  fought 
hard  for  another  clause,  viz.,  '*  Abstinence  from  all 
actions  which  would  decide  beforehand  the  forma- 
tion of  the  future  government. ' '  This  proposal  gave 
rise  to  stormy  debates  and  was  firmly  resisted  not 


THE  PROVISIONAL  GOVERNMENT  49 

only  by  the  Nationalists  and  the  Octobrists,  but  also 
by  the  Cadets,  who  followed  Miliukov  in  preferring 
a  constitutional  monarchy  of  the  English  type. 
They  not  only  refused  to  proclaim  a  democratic 
republic  as  the  popular  parties  desired,  but  they  re- 
fused to  pledge  themselves  not  to  establish  a  mon- 
archy prior  to  the  convening  of  a  Constituent  As- 
sembly. 

One  of  the  first  steps  of  the  Provisional  Commit- 
tee was  to  send  Guchkov  and  Shulgin  to  the  tsar  to 
procure  if  possible  his  abdication.  Flushed  with  the 
victory  over  tsarism,  the  railroad  men  apprised  the 
executive  committee  of  the  Soviet  of  this  move  "to 
come  to  some  sort  of  an  agreement  with  the  Roman- 
ovs'^ and  the  committee  ordered  its  commissaries  to 
stop  the  train  ordered  by  Guchkov  and  Shulgin. 
Nevertheless,  they  got  through  somehow,  found 
Nicholas  at  Pskov  (where  the  railway  men  had 
blocked  the  train  on  which  he  was  hurrying  to  his 
capital),  and  on  March  15th  obtained  his  signature 
to  an  act  of  abdication  on  behalf  of  himself  and  his 
son  in  favor  of  his  brother,  the  Grand  Duke  Michael. 
Inasmuch  as  Miliukov  on  the  same  day  had  an- 
nounced, *'The  power  will  be  transferred  to  the 
Regent,  Grand  Duke  Michael,"  the  Socialists,  who 
wanted  a  democratic  republic,  saw  that  the  Govern- 
ment intended  to  perpetuate  the  old  dynasty. 

On  the  next  day,  however,  they  had  their  innings. 
After  a  long  conference  in  his  palace  with  all  the 
ministers  of  the  Provisional  Government,  Michael 
was  induced  to  sign  a  "Declaration  from  the 
Throne"  stating  that  he  was  firmly  resolved 

to  accept  the   SupreniP  Power  only  if  this  should  be  the 


C  1  a  •  K  • 

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r  Ilcioit        0/iaroAeHrTBlH  B  c;iaBii  Ja  noMoaeii  TocnoAb  Bon  PdccIr 
5 -Mapra /i"qac    S    kmh  1917  r  ^  /?  Q 

Act  of  Abdication  of  Nicholas  II,  March   16,   1917 


,^w«^.^  y/f^^^^^  ^^■^-'^ 

,^2^  ^.^^^^^  -AO^^^y  ^^.^Ai^^    ^JC^^ 
C^^<:£'    *'//7j^<ij^  -J^a^  ^^^iZj^.-^s^^^-c-i^jM^Jit*^ 


-.^^^^  ^^.^^i^:^    -*^«45^.,4^=9S^_  ,^.:$,^«___ 

Act  of  Abdication  of  the  Grand  Duke  Michael,  March  17,  1917 


52       THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

desire  of  our  great  people,  who  must  by  means  of  a 
plebiscite,  through  their  representatives  in  the  Constitu- 
ent Assembly,  establish  the  form  of  government  and  the 
new  fundamental  laws  of  the  Russian  State. 

Invoking  God's  blessing,  I,  therefore,  request  all  citi- 
zens of  Russia  to  obey  the  Provisional  Government,  set  up 
on  the  initiative  of  the  Duma  and  vested  with  plenary 
powers,  until,  within  as  short  a  time  as  possible,  the  Con- 
stituent Assembly,  elected  on  a  basis  of  universal,  equal, 
secret,  and  direct  suffrage,  shall  express  the  will  of  the 
nation  regarding  the  form  of  govenment  to  be  adopted, 

Kerensky  was  the  principal  spokesman  and  him- 
self inspired  the  document  which  the  grand  duke 
signed.  Michael's  formal  recognition  before  all 
Russia  of  the  author it}^  of  a  body  to  be  chosen  by  a 
"universal,  equal,  secret,  and  direct"  suffrage  was 
a  clear  victory  for  the  Soviet.  No  doubt  it  was  made 
plain  to  him  that  the  revolutionary  soldiers  and  the 
armed  workingmen  would  be  heard  from  if  an  at- 
tempt were  made  to  force  monarchy  upon  the  peo- 
ple before  the  decision  of  the  Constituent  Assembly. 

Another  circumstance  which  stirred  the  revolu- 
tionaries was  that  at  the  time  of  his  abdication 
Nicholas  II  notified  the  Senate  of  the  appointment 
of  Prince  Lvov  as  President  of  the  Council  of  Min- 
isters. This  perfectly  natural  endeavor  of  the  new 
government  to  come  before  the  Russian  people  with 
an  authority  as  complete  as  possible  was  resented 
as  a  denial  of  the  principle  of  people's  sovereignty 
supposed  to  be  established  by  successful  revolution. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  SOVIETS 

IT  is  time  now  to  go  back  and  describe  the  forma- 
tion of  a  power  destined  to  check,  hamper,  and  in 
the  end  overthrow,  the  Government  of  Property. 

In  Russian  "soviet"  means  "council,"  and  had 
originally  no  revolutionary  flavor.  Under  the  old 
regime  the  Upper  Chamber  was  known  as  the 
Gosudarstvennyi  Soviet,  i.  e.,  Imperial  Council. 
There  were  all  kinds  of  Soviets — medical,  scientific, 
industrial,  etc.  In  October,  1905,  a  Soviet  of  Work- 
men's Delegates  was  formed  in  Petrograd  and  lasted 
until  January.  Trotsky  was  at  one  time  its  presi- 
dent and  like  its  successor  it  had  a  bulletin  known 
as  Izvestia  ("News").  It  had  also  its  guardsmen 
to  protect  its  leaders  from  arrest  when  they  appeared 
on  the  street. 

The  strikes,  street  meetings,  and  demonstrations 
of  March  8th-10th,  revealed  an  elemental  movement, 
which  was  developing,  however,  without  organiza- 
tion or  leadership.  Feeling  the  urgent  need  of  a 
center  of  information  and  direction,  the  Petrograd 
Union  of  Workers'  Consumers'  Societies,  in  con- 
cert with  the  Social  Democrats  in  the  Duma,  called 
a  conference  of  working-men  of  different  districts 
in  its  offices  on  the  afternoon  of  Saturday,  March 
10th.  About  thirty  persons  were  present,  includ- 
ing several  political  leaders  of  the  labor  movement. 


54      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

After  reports  on  the  situation  had  been  heard  it  was 
resolved  to  set  about  forming  a  soviet  of  workers' 
delegates  along  the  lines  of  the  Soviet  of  1905.  The 
factories  were  to  be  notified  to  choose  their  delegates 
at  once  and  the  soviet  was  to  meet  on  the  following 
day. 

But  the  scheme  failed  of  realization.  Later  in 
the  day  about  half  the  participants  in  the  conference 
were  arrested  while  conferring  with  the  labor  group 
at  the  office  of  the  Central  War  Industries  Commit- 
tee and  this  incident  held  up  the  execution  of  the 
plan.  Events  developed  with  such  dizzying  speed 
that  the  organization  of  the  Soviet  came  about  as 
the  result  of  action  in  another  place  and  in  different 
circumstances. 

On  Monday  morning  the  workingmen,  despite  the 
order  of  the  commandant  of  the  Petrograd  Military 
District  to  report  for  work,  stayed  away  from  their 
factories.  Five  military  units  went  over  to  the  side 
of  the  revolutionists.  The  Arsenal  and  the  Kresty 
Prison  were  taken  and  the  political  prisoners,  in- 
cluding the  workingmen  above  mentioned,  were  re- 
leased. Armed  soldiers  and  workingmen  with  red 
banners  were  rushing  about  the  city  in  automobiles. 
The  rebellious  troops  began  to  gather  at  the  Tauride 
Palace.  When  the  Duma  sat  at  two  o'clock  repre- 
sentatives of  labor  organizations  began  to  gather  in 
Eoom  12  of  the  same  building.  They  were  mot  by 
Kerensky,  Tcheidze,  and  Skobelev,  "who  looked 
very  pale  and  whose  eyes  were  burning."  There 
was  no  time  to  lose.  Events  called  for  quick  deci- 
sions. Therefore  this  httle  group  decided  to  send 
messengers  immediatelv  to  all  the  labor  districts, 


THE  SOVIETS  55 

calling  upon  them  to  elect  delegates  to  the  Soviet. 
The  appeal  ran: 

Citizens!  The  representatives  of  worijers,  soldiers,  and 
of  the  people,  who  are  meeting  in  the  State  Duma,  an- 
nounce that  the  first  meeting  of  their  representatives  is 
to  take  place  to-day  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  in  the 
building  of  the  State  Duma.  All  the  troops  that  have 
gone  over  to  the  side  of  the  people  should  immediately- 
elect  their  representatives,  one  for  each  company. 

Factories  should  elect  their  deputies,  one  for  each 
thousand  workers.  Factories  that  have  fewer  than  one 
thousand  workingmen  should  elect  one  deputy  each. 

[Signed]     Provisional    Executive    Committee    of    the 
Soviet  of  Workers '  Delegates. 

At  nine  o  'clock  in  the  evening  Tcheidze,  the  school- 
master elected  to  the  Duma  from  the  Caucasus, 
opens  the  Soviet  of  Workers'  Delegates  with  from 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  to  one  hundred  and 
fifty  persons  present.  Officers  are  elected  and  a 
Credentials  Committee  is  appointed  to  examine  the 
credentials  of  those  present.  Late  at  night  a  mili- 
tary commission  is  created  which  at  once  sets  to 
work.  Toward  morning  comes  Rodzianko  with  the 
suggestion  that  it  combine  with  a  like  commission 
of  the  Provisional  Committee,  which  is  done.  The 
soviet  creates  an  executive  committee  of  fifteen. 
The  soviet  sits  again  the  next  day  and  two  days  later 
there  is  a  meeting  of  the  military  units  of  the  Petro- 
grad  garrison  at  which  nine  representatives  of  sol- 
diers are  elected  to  the  executive  committee.  From 
now  on  begins  to  function  the  "Petrograd  Soviet  of 
Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Delegates"  destined  to  make 
for  itself  a  name  that  will  resound  in  history. 


56      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

This  Soviet,  which  will  come  to  include  well  above 
a  thousand  delegates,  is  really  the  parliament  of 
the  masses,  for  they  have  little  confidence  in  the 
Duma,  which  appears  to  them  as  the  very  citadel  of 
Privilege  and  Property.  But  the  need,  felt  by  the 
factory  operatives  and  by  the  garrison  of  the  cap- 
ital, of  having  an  organization  of  their  own  is  felt 
by  hke  elements  all  over  Russia.  So  the  soviet  idea 
spreads  quickly  throughout  the  country.  Soon  every 
town  will  have  its  soviet,  every  company,  battalion, 
regiment,  division,  army  corps,  its  "executive  com- 
mittee." In  time  agitators  will  appear  even  in  the 
villages.  There  will  be  Soviets  of  peasants'  dele- 
gates and  presently  an  All-Russian  Congress  of  such 
delegates. 

In  September,  1917, 1  had  the  opportunity  of  look- 
ing into  the  Soviet  of  Nijni  Novgorod,  which  may  be 
regarded  as  typical.  To  this  soviet  a  delegate  may 
be  sent  by  every  factory  with  fifty  or  more  work- 
men. The  big  concerns  are  allowed  representation 
for  every  five  hundred  workmen  or  workwomen. 
Any  fifty  persons  in  the  same  craft  or  calling  may 
come  together  and  pick  their  delegate.  Any  class 
of  employees — even  reporters,  bookkeepers,  and 
bank  clerks — have  a  right  to  representation.  On 
the  other  hand,  doctors,  lawyers,  clergymen,  mer- 
chants, capitalists,  and  landed  proprietors  are  not 
considered  as  belonging  to  the  proletariat.  About 
one-sixth  of  the  Soviet  is  composed  of  delegates 
named  by  the  various  proletarian  parties,  Social 
Revolutionists,  Social  Democrats  (Bolsheviki  and 
Mensheviki),  People-ists,  etc. 

The  soldiers  of  the  local  garrison  by  companies 


THE  SOVIETS  57 

name  delegates  to  the  soldiers'  soviet.  These  two 
Soviets  in  Nijni-Novgorod  maintain  a  joint  execu- 
tive committee,  composed  of  thirty  workmen  and 
twenty  soldiers,  which  meets,  perhaps,  twice  a  week. 
Of  the  thirty  working-class  members,  perhaps 
twenty  give  their  entire  time,  and  are  paid  the  equiv- 
alent of  their  ordinary  wages. 

The  Petrograd  Soviet  is  much  more  than  a  delib- 
erative body.  It  maintains  numerous  ''sections'^ 
which  busy  themselves  with  the  interests  of  the 
Kevolution  and  of  the  masses.  These  are :  Military, 
Naval,  Labor,  Agrarian,  Medical-Sanitary,  Railroad, 
Propaganda  and  Literature,  Preparation  for  Con- 
stituent Assembly,  International  Relations,  Out-of- 
To^\Ti  and  Local  Government,  Munitions,  Army  Pro- 
visionment,  and  For  Combating  Counter-Revolu- 
tion.  The  activities  of  certain  of  these  '' sections" 
throw  much  light  on  the  subsequent  course  of  the 
Revolution.  The  ''Propaganda  and  Literature" 
group  carries  on  an  oral  propaganda  and  distrib- 
utes pamphlets  and  leaflets.  By  September  it  can 
boast  of  having  put  into  circulation  605,850  copies 
of  books  and  pamphlets.  The  out-of-town  group 
keeps  up  relations  with  Soviets  all  over  Russia.  On 
the  average  it  receives  daily  from  ten  to  fifteen  dele- 
gations. The  Section  for  Combating  Counter-Revo- 
lution  collects  information  about  elemental  disorders 
and  counter-revolutionary  activities  by  individuals 
and  groups.  It  reports  its  findings  not  only  to  the 
ministry  concerned  but  also  to  the  local  soviet.  It 
is  work  of  this  sort,  by  democratic  members  of  the 
■Intelligentsia  in  association  with  the  elite  among  the 
workers,  first  in  the  capital  and  then  in  every  in- 


58       THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

dustrial  center  of  Russia,  which  accounts  for  the  fact 
that  in  the  course  of  four  years,  control  has  never 
been  wrested  from  the  hands  of  the  proletarians  who 
made  the  Revolution. 

In  these  Soviets — composed,  outside  the  great  cen- 
ters, chiefly  of  ignorant,  even  illiterate  factory  hands, 
without  experience  in  organization — ever\'thing  de- 
pends upon  the  kind  of  men  who  lead.  In  an  agi- 
tated, confused  time  with  no  past  to  guide  them  the 
delegates  may  be  carried  in  one  direction  by  one  set 
of  leaders  and  swept  in  exactly  the  opposite  direc- 
tion by  another  group  which  wins  their  confidence. 
Now,  in  the  beginning,  the  Soviets  are  under  the 
influence  of  the  political  leaders  who  happened  to 
be  on  the  spot  when  the  Revolution  occurred,  and 
these  are  moderates  whose  principles  the  old  regime 
tolerated.  Tcheidze,  the  first  president  of  the  Pet- 
rograd  Soviet,  is  a  Menshevik.  Of  the  vice-presi- 
dents one,  Skobelev,  is  a  Menshevik,  while  Kerensky 
is  a  Social-Revolutionist.  Most  of  the  members  of 
the  executive  committee  are  educated  men  and  many 
of  them  hold  university  degrees. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment, however,  is  to  bring  back  to  Russia  the  polit- 
ical victims  of  autocracy.  From  Siberia  about 
eighty  thousand  are  brought  out.  From  Switzer- 
land, France,  Scandinavia,  the  United  States,  even 
from  Argentina  and  other  remote  countries,  come 
perhaps  ten  thousand  who  have  been  refugees  from 
the  tsar's  vengeance.  In  all  ninety  thousand  at 
least,  virtually  all  of  them  of  socialist  sympathies, 
stream  into  European  Russia  in  late  April,  May, 
June,  and  July.     Honored  by  a  grateful  people  for 


THE  SOVIETS  59 

their  voluntary  sacrifices  and  sufferings  they  quickly 
rise  to  a  commanding  influence  in  the  local  Soviets 
and  carry  them  irresistibly  toward  the  political  Left. 


CHAPTER  V 

OPPOSITE    CONCEPTIONS   OP   THE   REVOLUTION 

THE  one  thing  com^ion  to  nineteen-twentieths  of 
the  Russian  people  at  this  moment  is  disillu- 
sionment. It  is  as  if  in  mass  meeting  assembled 
they  should  call  before  them  the  tsar  and-  the  grand 
dukes  and  say: 

''Little  Father,  Grand  Dukes,  once  we  believed  in 
you,  feared  you  and  trusted  you.  We  imagined  that 
the  thing  you  stand  for  is  necessary  to  the  preser- 
vation of  the  Russian  land.  But  now  we  think  so  no 
longer.  We  see  you  for  what  you  are — brutal,  cor- 
rupt, destructive.  We  've  given  you  all  we  had,  yet 
you  can't  even  protect  the  Russian  State.  We  've 
given  you  four  millions  of  our  brothers  and  sons. 
But  the  feet  of  the  invaders  are  on  Russian  soil. 
Away  with  you!" 

It  is  as  if  they  should  call  before  them  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Greek  Catholic  Church,  the  Metro- 
poUtans  and  the  Archbishops,  and  say  to  them : 

''Holy  Fathers,  we  used  to  believe  in  you,  we 
deemed  you  necessary  to  our  lives.  We  believed 
the  good  words  you  spoke,  the  kindly  things  you  said. 
We  believe  in  you  no  longer.  We  sec  you  now  for 
what  you  are.  For  two  hundred  years  you  have 
been  Autocracy's  spies.  You  have  taxed  us  for 
birth,  marriage,  and  death.  You  have  provided 
Gregorian    chants    and    stately    ritual    in    splendid 

GO 


CONCEPTIONS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION    61 

churches  with  golden  domes,  while  we  shiver  and 
starve.  You  have  talked  peace  to  us,  and  mercy 
and  love.  Yet  you  have  supported  the  tsars  and 
the  Cossack  whip  and  sword.  You  are  enemies  of 
the  people.    Away  with  you ! ' ' 

It  is  as  if  they  should  call  before  them  the  princes, 
counts,  and  barons  and  say  to  them: 

**You  princes,  you  counts,  you  barons,  we  used  to 
believe  in  you.  We  used  to  think  that  you  were 
necessary  so  that  we  could  be  fed  and  clothed  and 
housed.  Now  for  three  years  we  have  been  cold  and 
hungry.  We  recognize  you  now  for  what  you  are 
— parasites.  We  refuse  to  let  you  ride  any  longer 
on  our  backs.    Away  with  you ! ' ' 

But  sharing  the  same  disillusionment  does  not 
mean  that  the  Russian  people  entertain  the  same 
idea  of  the  good  the  Revolution  is  to  bring  them. 
There  are  current  at  least  three  conceptions  as  to 
what  the  Revolution  will  mean. 

What  chiefly  disgusted  the  educated  people,  the 
Intelligentsia,  with  the  old  regime  was  its  outrag- 
ing of  human  dignity  by  its  spying,  letter-opening, 
wire-tapping,  censorship,  arbitrary  searches  and 
seizures,  and  interference  with  free  movement  and 
free  communication.  These  degrading  tsarist  tac- 
tics wounded  deeply  their  self-respect,  so  for  them 
the  Revolution  is  the  opening  of  an  era  of  Freedom 
—freedom  to  go  about  at  will  without  passports, 
freedom  of  speech,  of  the  press,  of  agitation,  of 
public  demonstration,  of  association,  religious  free- 
dom, freedom  of  oppressed  nationalities,  removal 
of  all  hampering  restrictions  on  women.  Further- 
more, it  implies  the  abolition  of  legal  classes,  uni- 


62      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

versa!  suffrage,  a  government  obedient  to  the  peo- 
ple, and  the  spread  of  popular  education. 

The  Party  of  Popular  Freedom,  nicknamed  ''Ca- 
dets" {Ka  Day  being  the  initials  of  the  words 
Constitutional  Democrats,  the  original  name  of  the 
party)  expect  a  "liberal"  regime  of  the  type  which 
began  to  prevail  in  England  after  the  reform  of 
1832.  They  overlook  the  rise  since  that  date  of 
capitalistic  production  and  the  diffusion  of  socialis- 
tic ideas  through  the  proletariat. 

The  business  and  propertied  classes  have  been 
alienated  from  the  old  t-egime  chiefly  by  its  corrup- 
tion, waste,  and  stupidity.  They  remember  its  in- 
capacity either  to  keep  the  peace  or  to  wage  suc- 
cessful war.  They  are  tired  of  blundering  and  fav- 
oritism in  matters  in  life  and  death  to  the  Russian 
land.  They  are  deeply  mortified  that  the  destiny 
of  a  great  state  should  hinge  on  the  intrigues  of  a 
detestable  monk  like  Rasputin  playing  upon  the  su- 
perstitions of  high-placed  women.  For  them  the 
Revolution  is  to  mean  the  control  of  the  State  by 
intelligence  and  character.    It  is  to  mean  Efficiency. 

As  soon  as  one  leaves  the  privileged  classes  and 
goes  among  the  toiling  mass  one  comes  upon  a  very 
different  conception  of  the  blessings  the  new  order 
is  to  bring.  The  toilers  are  not  content  with  gain- 
ing freedom.  They  are  not  content  with  an  efficient 
governmental  machine.  They  want  something  more. 
The  experience  of  excessive  toil  and  bitter  priva- 
tion makes  them  yearn  for  a  larger  share  of  the 
fruits  of  their  labor.  In  a  dim  way  they  realize 
that  all  the  splendor,  luxury,  and  profligate  waste 
of  the  kept  classes  comes  out  of  the  product  of  their 


CONCEPTIONS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION    63 

toil.  And  they  are  determined  that  they  must  have 
more;  the  lord,  the  employer,  the  speculator,  less. 
To  them  revolution  holds  the  promise  of  living  bet- 
ter. The  peasants  count  on  adding  the  lord's  estate 
to  their  scanty  stock  of  common  land;  the  wage 
earners  expect  that  their  ''exploitation"  is  to  cease. 
The  Revolution  is  to  mean  Justice. 

It  is  impossible  that  these  expectations  of  the 
broader  layers  of  the  people  should  be  realized  with- 
out great  disturbance  to  establish  property  rights. 
If  the  landed  proprietors  be  not  dispossessed  how 
is  the  Revolution  to  make  bread  more  plentiful  in 
the  peasant's  hut?  If  the  capitalists  retain  the 
right  to  absolute  disposal  over  their  factories  and 
mines,  by  what  means  can  the  workers  acquire  for 
themselves  a  much  larger  part  of  their  product? 
The  distribution  of  wealth  controls  in  large  measure 
the  distribution  of  current  income.  The  distribution 
of  current  income  controls  in  large  measure  the 
distribution  of  welfare,  of  comfort,  of  culture,  of 
self-respect  and  social  prestige. 

To  be  sure,  a  regime  of  freedom  would  in  time 
react  upon  the  distribution  of  wealth  so  as  to  take 
it  out  of  the  hands  of  weak  or  inefficient  persons 
and  bring  it  into  the  grasp  of  the  strong  and  cap- 
able. In  time  the  mountainous  private  fortunes 
built  up  under  a  government  which  catered  to  the 
great  land-owners  and  the  big  capitalists  would  be 
worn  down.  By  the  end  of  this  century,  perhaps,  the 
distribution  of  wealth  in  Russia  might  come  to  re- 
semble the  distribution  of  wealth  in  France  or  Nor- 
way. In  the  long  run  the  freedoms  which  have  be- 
come established  in  modern  bourgeois  society  would 


64      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

have  profoundly  changed  the  distribution  of  wealth 
in  Russia. 

But  human  life  is  for  the  short  run.  Was  it  not 
too  much  to  expect  that  the  robbed,  toiling  masses 
of  Russia  should  content  themselves  with  a  prospect 
of  comparative  comfort  for  their  children,  or,  in 
any  case,  for  their  grandchildren!  For  years  most 
of  the  toilers  have  been  dreaming  of  some  day  enter- 
ing the  Promised  Land.  Will  they  pause  at  the 
threshold  and  turn  back  to  wander  again  in  the 
wilderness  out  of  reverence  for  the  legal  rampart 
of  property  rights  which  bars  their  way?  In  talk- 
ing with  many  property-holders  to  whom  I  presented 
letters  of  introduction  in  the  summer  of  1917  I  found 
them  strangely  inconsistent.  One  and  all  they 
agreed  that  the  old  regime  was  an  iniquitous  regime. 
But  if  such  were  the  case  the  distribution  of  wealth 
which  that  regime  contributed  to  bring  to  pass  must 
be  iniquitous  too.  And  being  iniquitous  it  stood  in 
need  of  being  corrected.  But  I  found  no  property- 
owner  who  drew  any  such  conclusion.  Without  ex- 
ception the  members  of  the  possessing  class  I  talked 
with  assumed  that  the  actual  titles  to  wealth  were 
in  no  wise  to  be  called  in  question.  It  never  occurred 
to  them  that  without  startling  economic  readjust- 
ments the  ''freedom"  the  Revolution  brought  might 
prove  empty  and  unsatisfying  to  the  peasants  and 
the  factory  hands. 

Hence,  very  soon  after  the  downfall  of  the  hated 
autocracy  appears  a  rift  in  national  sentiment  which 
deepens  day  by  day.  On  the  one  hand  are  the  com- 
fortable people  who  insist  that  the  Revolution  has 
already  fulfilled  itself,  that  now  it  is  the  part  of  all 


a  S 
en  vH 


CONCEPTIONS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION    65 

good  citizens  to  settle  down  and  enjoy  the  new- 
freedom  and  new  efficiency  without  any  further  up- 
setting of  conditions.  On  the  other  hand,  are  the 
horny-handed,  living  in  one-room  huts  or  kennels  in 
congested  slums,  eating  black  bread  and  cabbage 
soup  and  looking  for  an  improvement  in  their  miser- 
able lot  which  somehow  fails  to  materialize. 

Here  in  these  unsatisfied  desires,  in  the  unfulfilled, 
long-cherished  expectations  of  the  working  masses, 
is  the  secret  of  the  instability  and  weakness  of  the 
Provisional  Government.  No  power  on  earth  could 
prevent  the  Revolution  from  going  on  to  be  com- 
pleted by  a  fundamental  social  and  economic  change. 
The  only  doubt  is  as  to  whether  this  change  will  be 
accomplished  in  an  orderly  way  by  the  Constituent 
Assembly,  or  will  come  earlier  by  a  coup  d'etat  on 
the  part  of  the  leaders  of  the  masses. 


CHAPTER  VI 
AGITATION 

IN  one  of  his  yarns  Munchausen  tells  of  a  day  so 
cold  that,  although  the  post-boy  rides  his  route 
and  blows  his  horn  as  usual,  not  a  sound  comes  from 
it.  But,  after  his  horn  has  been  hung  in  the  warm 
station  room,  the  frozen  notes  thaw  and  come  tum- 
bling out !  So  it  is  when  the  sun  of  freedom  shines 
after  the  freezing  night  of  despotism.  Of  a  sudden 
all  the  long  pent-up  plaints,  thoughts,  projects,  and 
dreams  rush  to  be  expressed. 

During  the  spring  and  summer  of  1917  a  veritable 
whirlwind  of  public  discussion  rages  over  Russia. 
It  seems  as  if  these  people  cannot  get  their  fill  of 
public  meetings.  On  Sunday  one  will  attend  four 
or  five  political  gatherings  of  the  most  varied  ten- 
dencies and  return  to  his  home  at  night  tired  but 
perfectly  happy.  Has  he  not  indulged  all  day  in 
what,  but  a  few  weeks  since,  was  forbidden  fruit? 

The  supreme  joy  of  the  new  citizen  is  to  parade 
in  political  procession  with  a  banner  above  him,  a 
band  in  front,  and  cheering  thousands  of  spectators 
on  each  side  of  him.  He  walks  with  his  head  up  and 
his  heels  hit  the  pavement  with  a  ring.  He  is  con- 
scious now  of  embodying  a  bit  of  his  nation's  sov- 
ereignty. 

Never  was  there  a  more  brilliant  opportunity  for 
men  of  ideas  who  can  speak  well  on  their  feet.     The 

66 


AGITATION  67 

people  are  insatiable.  What  hosts  of  patient  listen- 
ers! With  votes  for  all — women  as  well  as  men — 
and  with  the  elections  for  the  Constituent  Assembly 
in  the  offing,  they  are  endeavoring  to  provide  them- 
selves within  a  few  months  with  the  political  con- 
victions which  the  citizen  of  a  free  state  inherits 
from  his  father  or  accumulates  gradually  in  the 
course  of  years.  And  how  intoxicating  it  is  from 
doorsteps,  lamp  posts,  soap-boxes,  sometimes  even 
from  balconies  and  platforms,  to  unpack  one's  soul, 
to  preach  one's  little  gospel!  So  men  hurry  from 
group  to  group,  talking  and  talking  till  their  voices 
vanish. 

When  the  cave  of  the  winds  is  unsealed,  those,  of 
course,  have  the  advantage  who  had  been  trained  in 
the  1905  revolution  and  since  then  in  a  free  country 
like  America  have  continued  practice  in  public 
speaking  and  in  organizing  the  toilers.  The  bewil- 
dered leaderless  Russian  masses  are  thrilled  and 
captivated  by  these  ready,  self-confident  men  who 
tell  them  just  what  they  must  do  in  order  to  garner 
for  themselves  the  fruits  of  their  Revolution.  This 
is  why  refugees,  obscure  to  us  altho  not  to  Russians, 
who  in  exile  had  been  obliged  to  work  in  our  steel 
mills  and  tailor  shops  for  a  living,  former  residents 
of  New  York 's  ' '  East  Side, ' '  who  lived  precariously 
from  some  Russian  newspaper  we  Americans  never 
heard  of,  will  rise  to  be  heads  of  Soviets  and,  later, 
cabinet  ministers  of  a  government  ruling  a  tenth  of 
the  human  race.  In  all  modern  history  there  is  no 
romance  like  it. 

In  this  vast  Babel  of  discussion  nothing  is  taken 
for  granted.    No  institution  that  was  a  part  of  the 


68       THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

hated  past  is  too  sacred  to  alter.  The  spirit  is 
"Everj^thing  to  the  melting-pot."  So  multitudes 
of  unlettered,  untutored  men  are  suddenly  called  to 
sit  in  judgment  upon  such  deep,  difficult  matters  as 
army  discipline,  the  factory-owner's  authority,  the 
right  of  the  proprietor,  the  procedure  of  courts  of 
justice,  foreign  relations,  war  aims,  the  issue  of  cen- 
tral government  versus  local  government.  Most  of 
them  are  honest  and  serious.  As  they  listen  they 
scowl  from  very  effort  of  thought.  They  under- 
stand quite  well  that  the  welfare  of  the  community 
should  be  preferred  to  their  private  interest  when 
the  two  conflict.  So  far  as  sound  doctrine  can  be 
made  clear  and  attractive  to  them  they  will  embrace 
it.  But  on  a  question  like  factory-control  by  the 
workers  or  common  ownership  of  farmland,  in  which 
truth  is  difficult  and  unpalatable,  while  error  is  plaus- 
ible and  pleasing,  they  are  likely  to  go  wrong. 

The  radical  leaders  are  eager  to  make  hay  while 
the  sun  shines.  They  fear  the  resources  the  prop- 
ertied class  wall  be  able  to  put  behind  its  counter- 
agitation  and  they  aim  to  obtain  a  decision  on  funda- 
mental matters  such  as  peace  and  land  before  the 
propertied  have  had  time  to  orgayiize  their  resist- 
ance. Each  factory,  each  village,  each  regiment, 
must  be  roused  and  organized.  Sometimes  the 
workers'  committee  in  the  factory  sends  workmen  on 
employer's  pay  to  agitate  in  the  villages.  Thus 
the  towTi  bourgeoisie  are  made  to  support  the  cam- 
paign to  destroy  the  country  bourgeoisie! 

Much  of  the  agitation  carried  on  among  the  toilers 
is  most  reckless.  The  revolutionists  set  afloat  short, 
simple,  catchy  slogans  appealing  to  the  elementary 


AGITATION  69 

instincts  of  the  people,  which  embody  promises  in- 
capable of  immediate  fulfilment.  It  is  asserted  that 
the  sending  of  a  railway  commission  by  the  Amer- 
ican Government  to  help  solve  Russia's  transporta- 
tion problem  indicates  x\merica's  intention  to  seize 
for  herself  the  Trans-Siberian  Railway.  The  men 
in  the  trenches  are  told  that  American  capitalists 
are  paying  Kerensky  so  much  for  every  Russian 
soldier  killed.  For  three  years,  within  Russia, 
enmity  has  been  systematically  fomented  and  organ- 
ized against  the  Central  empires.  So  the  Bolsheviks 
— whose  sentiment  might  well  be  "A  plague  on  both 
your  houses" — aim  to  reveal  the  victimized  German 
toilers  behind  the  Kaiser's  militarism  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  to  reveal  British,  French,  and  American 
economic  imperialism  behind  the  democratic  pro- 
fessions of  the  Entente. 

Mixed  in  with  the  sincere  agitators  are  agents  of 
the  German  Government,  busily  sowing  doctrines 
that  will,  it  is  hoped,  set  the  Russians  by  the  ears. 
This  baleful  influence  of  Germany  upon  Russia's  do- 
mestic life  is  a  thing  of  long  standing.  Unburned 
portions  of  the  records  in  the  wrecked  Department 
of  Justice  Building  in  Petrograd  show  that  it  ran 
back  at  least  forty  j^ears. 

From  these  records  it  develops  that  for  more  than 
twenty  years  prior  to  1914  two  groups  under  Ger- 
man imperial  surveillance  operated  in  Russia — two 
distinct  groups,  perhaps  unknown  one  to  the  other, 
with  distinct  methods,  working  for  a  common  end. 
One  group  worked  with  the  extreme  Right  and 
sought  to  influence  the  Government  through  the 
autocracy,  its  culminating  achievement  being  the  ad- 


70      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

vancement  of  the  pro-German  Stiirmer  to  the  head 
of  the  Ministry  in  January,  1916.  This  group  aimed 
to  promote  disintegration  by  favoring  the  extreme 
reactionary  position. 

Simultaneously  another  group  with  German  funds 
and  under  German  direction,  extreme  Left  in  tend- 
ency, operated  among  the  revolutionary  elements  in 
Russia,  aiding  and  urging  them  on  to  revolutionary 
activity  against  the  autocracy.  There  were  several 
files  of  the  records  which  showed  how  here  and 
there  in  different  places  in  Russia  an  impecunious 
worthless  element  of  the  Russian  nobility  was  bought 
by  German  agents  to  serve  their  purposes.  For  in- 
stance, a  Russian  lady  in  reduced  circumstances  be- 
gins to  hold  meetings  of  revolutionists  in  her  re- 
spectable home.  Sympathetically  she  lends  an  ear 
to  their  tales  about  the  death-in-life  in  Siberia,  the 
sufferings  of  the  poor  and  oppressed.  She  is  pro- 
vided with  money  to  furnish  to  the  revolutionary 
circles,  allows  German  agents  to  sit  in  and  foment 
•terroristic  activity,  and  reports  everything  to  the 
German  group. 

No  doubt  Germany  found  means  to  promote  the 
diffusion  of  Bolshevistic  ideas  so  long  as  Bolshevism 
was  weakening  Russia's  capacity  to  resist  Germany. 
On  the  other  hand,  when  the  Bolsheviks  were  in 
power  and  creating  a  new  order,  she  followed  her 
old  tactics  of  supporting  the  groups  to  the  right  and 
left  of  them.  When  the  nests  of  anarchists  in  Mos- 
cow were  raided  in  the  spring  of  1918  the  Bolsheviks 
found  there  German  machine-guns  of  a  new  model, 
not  hitherto  met  with  in  Russia ! 


CHAPTER  VII 
POLITICAL  GROUPINGS  AND  PROGRAMS 

OWING  to  the  frozen-up  state  of  the  Russian 
people  under  autocracy,  political  opinion  is  in 
a  stage  very  different  from  that  seen  in  free  coun- 
tries. Thanks  to  the  obstructions  the  police  put 
in  the  way  of  the  propagation  of  ''illegal'^  ideas,  the 
larger  part  of  the  masses  is  politically  inert,  has 
in  fact  no  opinion  at  all  on  public  questions.  In  this 
respect,  however,  the  factory-workers  are  far  wider 
awake  than  the  huge  soggy  peasant  mass.  Seeing 
that  they  hve  and  work  together,  a  good  deal  of  un- 
derground propaganda  has  gone  on  among  them 
despite  the  poUce  and  the  spies.  This  is  why,  al- 
though the  peasants  outnumber  the  proletariat  six 
to  one,  it  is  the  latter,  not  the  former,  that  will  break 
dcTwn  the  domination  of  the  bourgeois  and  grasp  the 
steering-wheel  of  the  new  order. 

Naturally,  centers  of  protest  against  the  auto- 
cratic regime  appeared  in  Russia  before  centers  of 
defense;  so  it  is  the  radical  parties  that  are  the 
older.  In  the  seventies  of  the  last  century  the  slogan 
was  raised,  ''Go  to.  the  people,  learn  to  know  their 
real  needs,  and  find  means  to  lift  them  out  of  their 
wretched  lot.^'  Its  friends  called  themselves  Peo- 
ple-ists  (Narodniki).  Out  of  this  mo-vement  devel- 
oped the  Party  of  Toil  (Trudoviki)  and  the  Social 
Revolutionaries.    The  former  appeared  in  the  days 

71 


72       THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

of  the  first  Duma  and  was  composed  of  peasants 
bent  on  getting  the  IsSnd  and  an  idealistic  element 
in  the  Intelligentsia  to  whom  peasant  aspirations 
were  gospeh  Since  it  is  a  tolerated  group,  public 
men  like  Kerensky  belong  to  it  until  they  become 
free  to  join  that  banned  party  with  a  terrorist  rec- 
ord, the  Social  Revolutionaries. 

This  party  was  organized  in  1901  and  its  great 
slogan  is  "All  the  land  to  all  the  people,"  the  idea 
being  not  to  create  little  proprietors  in  place  of  big 
ones,  but  to  do  aw^ay  with  private  property  in  land 
and  found  land-occupancy  upon  a  use  basis.  But 
while  it  advocates  land-nationalization,  it  does  not 
urge  factory-nationalization.  It  is  anti-monarchist, 
anti-imperialist,  and  anti-militarist.  It  is  the  party 
of  the  venerated  Breshko-Breshkovskaya,  of 
Tchemov,  Spiridonova,  Savinkov,  and  Kerensky. 
With  respect  to  the  war  and  the  "dictatorship  of 
the  proletariat"  it  is  destined  to  split  into  a 
Right,  led  by  Madame  Breslikovskaya,  a  Center 
led  by  Tchernov,  and  a  Left  led  by  Miss 
Spiridonova. 

The  All-Russian  Social-Democratic  Labor  Party 
composed  of  straight-out  Marxians,  dates  from  1898. 
Its  strength  lies  in  the  members  of  the  liberal  pro- 
fessions, the  students,  and  the  factory-workers.  In 
the  rural  villages  it  meets  with  little  response.  At 
its  congress  in  Switzerland  in  1903  the  party  split 
on  the  question  of  the  tactics  to  be  pursued  in  bring- 
ing about  the  socialist  order  in  society.  The  more 
radical  group,  led  by  Lenin,  was  in  the  majority  and 
thenceforth  came  to  be  known  within  the  party  as 
Bolsheviki  or  Majoritists.    To  translate  Bolshevik 


POLITICAL  GROUPINGS  AND  PROGRAMS      73 

''Maximalist,"  as  was  the  practice  of  most  news- 
paper correspondents  in  Russia  in  1917,  is  to  con- 
found this  group  with  a  small  extreme-Left  group 
of  the  Social-Revolutionary  Party.  Likewise  their 
opponents,  known  as  Mensheviki  (Minoritists), 
ought  not  to  be  called  ' '  Minimalists. ' ' 

Each  of  these  factions  considers  itself  the  right- 
ful heir  of  the  party  name  and  prestige.  The  Bol- 
sheviks hold  the  ''central  committee"  of  the  party, 
together  with  the  Petrograd  and  Moscow  conunit- 
tees.  The  Mensheviks  are  intrenched  in  the  "or- 
ganization committee"  of  the  party.  These  evolu- 
tionary socialists — followers  of  Tcheidze,  Tseretelli, 
Skobelev,  Lieber,  and  Dan— find  their  support  chiefly 
among  the  town  intellectuals,  workingmen  who  have 
been  organized  either  into  cooperatives  or  into  trade 
unions,  a  sprinkling  of  small  entrepreneurs  fallen 
under  the  influence  of  socialism  and  a  majority  of 
the  Jewish  socialistic  Biiud.  The  Bolsheviks,  on  the 
other  hand,  who  are  revolutionary  Socialists,  find 
their  strength  among  the  class-conscious  workers 
and  the  poorer  peasants. 

Plekhanov,  father  of  Russian  Marxism,  is  by  him- 
self with  a  small  Group  of  Unity  (Yedinstvo).  By 
vigorously  supporting  Russia's  prosecution  of  the 
war,  even  going  so  far  in  1916  as  to  urge  Russian 
workmen  not  to  strike  while  their  Government  is 
locked  in  struggle  against  the  Kaiser,  he  lost  his 
leadership  of  the  Mensheviks.  Upon  his  return  to 
Russia  in  April,  1917,  he  throws  all  his  influence 
for  the  war  rather  than  for  social  reconstruction, 
so  that  he  and  his  followers  are  jeered  at  as  "social 
patriots."     Between  the  Menshiviks  and  the  Bolshe- 


74      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

viks  stand  the  Menshevik  Internationalists  led  by 
Martov. 

The  Constitutional  Democrats  (''Party  of  Popu- 
lar Freedom")  popularly  known  as  Cadets,  were 
liberals  following  the  lead  of  Professor  Mihukov. 
Before  the  Revolution  they  stood  for  constitutional 
monarchy,  freedom  of  speech,  of  assemblage  and  of 
the  press,  universal  suffrage,  progressive  income 
taxes,  and  legal  protection  of  labor.  Their  agrarian 
program  recognized  that  the  land  must  go  to  the 
peasants,  but  insisted  that  the  landed  proprietors 
must  be  compensated  by  its  full  value  in  government 
bonds.  On  account  of  its  tenderness  for  the  rights 
of  property  the  Cadets  have  no  following  whatever 
among  the  peasants  or  workers.  Their  support  is 
chiefly  among  the  comfortably-off  Intelligentsia,  al- 
though not  a  few  lando\\Tiers  adhere  to  it. 

Originally  idealistic  so  far  as  the  implications  of 
capitalism  would  allow  it  to  be  so,  the  Cadet  Party 
very  quickly  changes  its  character  after  the  Revolu- 
tion. Having  nowhere  else  to  go,  all  the  Reaction- 
aries, Conservatives,  and  Octobrists  clamber  into 
it.  Then  upon  the  heaving  up  of  the  Bolshevik 
menace  its  idealists  become  chiefly  law-and-order 
men.  It  speedily  becomes  the  champion  of  the  rights 
of  property  and  its  earlier  solicitude  for  the  aspira- 
tions and  welfare  of  all  classes  of  society  ceases  to 
be  perceptible  after  it  comes  to  be  financed  and  di- 
rected by  noble  land-owners  and  great  capitalists. 
For  this  reason  the  Cadets,  who  at  one  time  had  a 
certain  claim  on  the  people's  gratitude,  end  by  being 
intensely  hated  by  the  proletariat  while  they  lose  the 
sympathy  of  the  social-minded  Intelligentsia. 


POLITICAL  GROUPINGS  AND  PROGRAMS      75 

Nothing  would  be  further  from  the  truth  than  to 
imagine  that  Russians  generally  are  at  this  time 
adherents  of  one  or  another  of  these  parties.  These 
parties,  most  of  them  incoherent  and  unstable,  at 
first  number  their  followers  by  tens  of  thousands, 
not  by  hundreds  of  thousands  or  millions.  They  are 
nuclei  for  agitation,  centers  of  crystallization  in  a 
cooling  solution.  Or  one  might  compare  them  to 
ferments  cast  into  a  plasm.  In  thousands  of  meet- 
ings and  in  millions  of  newspapers,  pamphlets, 
broadsides  and  placards  they  spread  their  political 
principles  before  the  new  citizens.  Before  the  leaf 
is  sere  it  will  become  apparent  to  all  which  parties 
are  the  winners  in  this  competition  for  adherents. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  FLOOD  OF  POLITICAL  REFORMS 

ABSOLUTELY  honest"  is  Steklov's  character- 
ization of  the  Provisional  Government  after  a 
month  of  deahng  with  it  as  representative  of  the 
soviet.  "With  all  our  skepticism,  the  sight  of  the 
regeneration  of  that  group  of  the  propertied  bour- 
geois elements  in  the  storm  of  revolutionary  events 
was  very  instructive."  "M.  Rodzianko  was  so 
shaken  by  events — to  him  they  were  even  more  unex- 
pected than  to  us — that  he  lost  the  ability  to  resist 
our  most  extreme  demands."  ''Still  more  interest- 
ing was  the  behavior  of  Shulgin,  who  in  1905-6  was 
engaged  in  the  suppression  of  the  Revolution  and 
who  is  well  known  to  you  as  the  organizer  of  the 
'black  hundreds.'  This  man  when  I  read  'to  pro- 
ceed forthwith  to  arrange  for  convoking  the  Con- 
stituent Assembly  on  the  basis  of  universal,  direct, 
equal  and  secret  suffrage,'  nervously  got  up  from 
his  seat,  came  over  to  me,  and  said,  'If  I  had  been 
told  two  days  ago  that  I  should  be  listening  to  these 
demands  and  would  not  only  not  be  objecting  to-day 
but  would  be  insisting  that  there  is  no  other  solution, 
and  that  this  hand  would  be  writing  the  abdication  of 
Nicholas  II,  I  would  have  called  any  one  making 
such  a  prediction  a  madman.'  " 

This  new  cabinet  works  without  defined  respon- 
sibility to  any  one.     The  tsar  is  under  arrest.     The 

76 


THE  FLOOD  OF  POLITICAL  REFORMS        77 

Imperial  Council  no  longer  exists.  The  Duma,  hav- 
ing given  birth  to  the  Provisional  Government,  has 
adjourned  and  will  never  again  be  officially  con- 
vened. The  new  reform  laws  have  only  to  be  drawn 
up  by  experts,  submitted  to  the  Juridical  Commis- 
sion headed  by  Kokoshkin,  a  member  of  the  Duma, 
and  then  promulgated. 

Accordingly,  with  breathless  speed  the  charters 
of  freedom  sought  by  duma  after  duma  since  1906, 
and  always  denied  or  mutilated  by  reactionary  min- 
isters of  the  tsar,  are  carried  into  effect.  The  old 
laws  and  odious  administrative  practices  restrict- 
ing the  liberty  of  the  citizen  in  a  manner  totally  un- 
known in  other  parts  of  the  civilized  world  are 
thrown  into  the  discard.  Instead  of  being  held  in 
jail  months  or  even  years  without  trial,  the  arrested 
person  must  be  brought  before  an  examining  magis- 
trate within  twenty-four  hours  or  else  released. 
Capital  punishment  is  abolished.  The  new  justice 
will  not  hear  of  "administrative  process,"  the  bu- 
reaucrats' device  for  destroying  their  opponents 
without  trial.  Newspapers,  books,  theaters,  and  pub- 
lic meetings  are  freed  from  censorship.  The  ground 
is  cut  from  under  the  feet  of  the  okhrana,  for  viola- 
tion of  the  secrecy  of  the  post,  the  telegraph,  or 
the  telephone,  is  made  a  punishable  offense.  The 
official,  no  longer  privileged  to  wrong  private  citi- 
zens with  impunity,  can  be  punished  like  any  other 
offender  for  exceeding  the  powers  with  which  he 
has  been  invested  by  law.  He  may  be  even  prose- 
cuted for  unreasonable  dilatoriness  in  case  his  cul- 
pable delay  has  caused  a  citizen  to  suffer  loss. 

The  oppressed  nationalities  are  liberated.    Within 


78      THE  KUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

a  week  the  Finnish  Constitution,  trampled  on  by  the 
tsar,  is  restored  and  ere  a  month  has  passed  Keren- 
sky,  addressing  the  Diet  at  Helsingfors,  greets  the 
free  Finnish  people  in  the  name  of  the  Provisional 
Government.  Soon  appears  an  Appeal  to  the  Poles 
guaranteeing  a  Free  Poland  which  shall  determine 
its  form  of  government  by  a  Constituent  Assembly 
convoked  in  Warsaw,  and  which,  it  is  hoped,  will 
enter  willingly  into  a  military  union  with  Free  Rus- 
sia. 

At  the  same  time  a  brotherly  hand  is  stretched 
out  to  the  Jewish  people  long  pent  up  within  a  pale 
of  settlement  in  Poland  and  western  Russia.  At  a 
stroke  are  repealed  all  laws  embodying  limitations 
on  them  concerning: 

(1)  Selection  of  place  of  residence  and  change  of  resi- 
dence. 

(2)  Acquiring  rights  of  ownership  and  other  material 
rights  in  all  kinds  of  movable  property  and  real-estate, 
and  likewise  in  the  possession  of,  the  use  and  managing  of 
all  property,  or  receiving  such  for  security. 

(3)  Engaging  in  all  kinds  of  trade,  commerce,  and  in- 
dustry, not  excepting  mining;  also  equal  participation  in 
the  bidding  for  Government  contracts,  deliveries  and  in 
public  auctions. 

(4)  Participation  in  joint  stock  and  other  commercial 
or  industrial  companies  and  partnerships,  and  also  employ- 
ment in  these  companies  and  partnerships  in  all  kinds  of 
positions,  either  by  election  or  by  appointment. 

(5)  Employment  of  servants,  salesmen,  foremen,  labor- 
ers, and  trade  apprentices. 

(6)  Entering  tbe  Government  service,  civil  as  well  as 
military,  and  the  grade  or  condition  of  such  sendee;  par- 
ticipation in  the  elections  for  the  institutions  of  local  self- 


THE  FLOOD  OF  POLITICAL  REFORMS        79 

govemment,  and  all  kinds  of  public  institutions;  serving 
in  aU  kinds  of  positions  of  Government  and  public  estab- 
lishments, as  well  as  the  prosecution  of  the  duties  connected 
with  such  positions. 

(7)  Admission  to  all  kinds  of  educational  institutions, 
whether  private,  Government  or  public,  and  the  pursuing 
of  the  courses  of  instruction  of  these  institutions,  and  re- 
ceiving scholarships.  Also  the  pursuit  of  teaching  and  the 
other  educational  professions. 

(8)  Performing  the  duties  of  guardians,  trustees,  or 
jurors. 

(9)  The  use  of  languages  and  dialects,  other  than  Rus- 
sian, in  the  proceedings  of  private  societies,  or  in  teaching 
in  all  kinds  of  private  educational  institutions,  and  iri  com- 
mercial bookkeeping. 

The  mere  rehearsal  of  these  manifold  discrim- 
inations exposes  the  true  character  of  the  old 
regime. 

The  tsarist  state  put  itself  behind  the  Russian 
Orthodox  Church.  The  Orthodox  parent  who  did 
not  present  his  child  for  baptism  would  be  pun- 
ished. No  such  child  would  be  received  into  any 
school.  The  Jews,  Lutherans,  Roman  Catholics, 
Armenians,  and  Mohammedans  were  allowed  to 
teach  their  religion  to  their  children,  but  woe  to 
them  if  they  were  caught  trying  to  convert  any  of 
the  Orthodox  to  their  faith!  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Orthodox  Church  was  free  to  convert  whom  she 
could.  The  new  Government  hastens  to  put  an  end 
to  such  favoritism.  As  regards  liberty  of  propa- 
gating their  doctrines,  all  religions  are  now  placed 
on  the  same  footing.-  When  in  August  the  iirst 
Council  of  the  Russian  Orthodox  Church  since  1668 
decides  that  she  must  be  free  of  the*  chains  laid  on 


80       THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

her  by  Peter  the  Great,  the  Government  gladly  ac- 
quiesces. Henceforth  there  is  only  the  question  of 
the  State's  guaranteeing  the  salaries  of  the  bishops 
and  priests.  It  is  the  Bolsheviks,  however,  who 
will  do  a  thorough  job  by  withdrawing  all  State  sup- 
port of  religion,  thereby  obliging  the  clergy  to  look 
to  their  outi  people  for  support,  as  the  clergy  do- here 
in  America. 

Local  judges  are  made  elective,  trial  by  jury  be- 
comes the  rule,  and  women  are  allowed  to  sit  on 
juries  and  to  serve  as  magistrates.  Soldiers  charged 
with  offenses  of  a  non-military  character  are  no 
longer  to  be  brought  before  courts-martial.  Those 
accused  of  military  offenses  are  to  be  tried  before 
juries  composed  equally  of  officers  and  men. 

The  base  of  municipal  government  is  broadened 
by  giving  the  vote  to  all  instead  of  restricting  it  to 
the  large  property-owners.  The  zemstvos,  or  county 
and  provincial  councils,  are  thrown  open  to  every 
citizen  and  zemstvos  are  instituted  for  units  as  small 
as  the  township.  No  longer  shall  the  Government 
wield  the  police  for  its  own  political  ends.  Each 
city  recruits  and  manages  its  police  force  just  as 
ours  do;  hence  there  comes  into  existence  a  mild- 
mannered  corps  known  as  the  "militia,"  under  an 
elected  chief.  As  for  the  much-dreaded  ispravnik 
— district  police  commissionc^r — and  uriadnik — rural 
policeman,  they  simply  vanish  from  the  scene  and 
no  successor  appears.  So  in  the  country  and  the 
village  old  men  step  into  the  breach  and  strive  by 
exercising  their  personal  influence,  or  by  directing 
public  opinion,  to  restrain  the  unruly. 

In  the  boots  of  the  arbitrarv  and  tvrannical  gov- 


o  ^ 


THE  FLOOD  OF  POLITICAL  REFORMS        81 

ernor,  who  had  the  tsar  back  of  him  to  his  last 
Cossack,  quakes  now  the  county  or  provincial  com- 
missary, who  is  expected  to  carry  out  within  his 
jurisdiction  the  will  of  the  Central  Government 
mthout  bringing  down  upon  himself  the  wrath  of 
the  local  duma  or  soviet.  Since  the  soldiers  are  in 
no  mood  to  shoot  down  rebellious  peasants  or  bull- 
dozing strikers  or  riotous  bread  liners,  the  commis- 
sary has  nothing  to  carry  his  point  with  unless  it 
be  argument,  pleading,  and  tact. 

Here  at  last,  then,  is  the  long-hoped-for  freedom. 
It  is  sweet  to  all,  but  it  is  satisfying  only  to  those  in 
easy  circumstances.  To  be  sure,  the  oppression  of 
privileged  nationalities,  religions,  orders,  and  per- 
sons is  done  away  with.  But  the  humble  man  who 
must  support  his  family  on  a  ruble  a  day  or  from 
seven  acres  of  ground — how  will  these  reforms 
enable  him  to  live  betterf  The  distribution  of  eco- 
nomic well-being  is  scarcely  affected  by  them.  What 
the  socialists  call  exploitation — i.  e.,  the  power  of 
the  owner  of  land  or  capital  to  exact  as  rental  for 
the  use  of  this  necessary  instrument  a  large  part  of 
what  the  worker  produces — is  left  undisturbed. 
After  having  forced  fences  and  palings  the  toilers 
have  overrun  the  orchards  and  gardens  of  the  priv- 
ileged ;  but  now  they  stand  before  the  high  massive 
walls  which  enclose  the  citadel.  Will  they  be  able 
to  breach  the  Rights  of  Property? 


•     CHAPTER  IX 
ARMY  ORDER  NUMBER  ONE 

IT  is  autumn,  1920.  On  the  dock  at  Sebastopol  is 
a  small  group  of  distinguished  anti-Bolshevik 
Russians,  among  them  former  War  Minister  Guch- 
kov.  They  are  there  to  see  off  Maklakov,  ambassa- 
dor of  the  Wrangel  government  to  Paris.  Appears 
now  a  certain  Baranov,  who  goes  around  the  circle 
shaking  hands.  Guchkov  holds  out  his  hand,  but 
Baranov  refuses  it  with  the  words,  "To  such  scoun- 
drels I  do  not  give  my  hand. ' '  When  Guchkov,  con- 
trolling himself,  asks  his  reason,  Baranov  replies: 
''For  Order  Number  One,  the  ruin  of  the  army,  and 
the  murder  of  the  tsar.  You  may  send  your  seconds, 
but  remember  I  am  acting  in  the  name  of  all  Rus- 
sian officers." 

Thus  has  Guchkov,  a  competent  man,  been  pilloried 
before  the  world  for  a  fatal  document  for  which  he 
is  in  no  wise  responsible. 

The  famous  Order  No.  1  which  was  issued  before 
the  Provisional  Government  had  fairly  been 
launched  deserves  a  place  among  those  documents 
which  have  bent  the  current  of  history.  In  all  the 
annals  of  army  administration  it  is  impossible  to 
meet  its  match.    Here  is  the  order  in  full : 

March  14,  1917. 

To  the  garrison  of  the  Petrograd  District,  to  all  soldiers 
of  the  guards,  army  artillery,  and  fleet,  for  immediate  and 

82 


ARMY  ORDER  NUMBER  ONE       83 

accurate  execution  and  for  the  information  of  the  working- 
men  of  Petrograd.  ' 

The  Soviet  of  Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Delegates  re- 
solved : 

1  In  all  companies,  battalions,  regiments,  [aviation] 
parks,  batteries,  squadrons,  and  all  branches  of  military 
and  naval  service,  committees  are  to  be  chosen  immediately 
from  the  elected  representatives  of  tb?  privates  of  the 
above-mentioned  military  units. 

2  In  all  military  units  which  have  not  as  yet  elected 
their  representatives  to  the  Soviet  of  Workers'  and  Sol- 
diers' Delegates,  one  representative  should  be  elected  from 
each  company.  This  representative  is  to  come  with  written 
credentials  to  the  building  of  the  Duma  at  ten  o'clock  on 
the  morning  of  the  15th  of  March. 

3  In  all  their  political  actions,  the  military  units  are 
subject  to  the  Soviet  of  Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Delegates 
and  their  committees. 

4  The  orders  of  the  Military  Commission  of  the  Duma 
must  be  executed,  with  the  exception  of  those  cases  in  which 
they  contradict  the  decision  of  the  Soviet  of  Workers'  Del- 
egates. 

5  All  kinds  of  arms,  sujch  as  rifles,  machine-guns  and  ar- 
mored automobiles,  etc.,  must  be  placed  at  the  disposal  and 
control  of  the  company  and  battalion  committees  and  in 
no  case  may  they  be  issued  to  officers  even  at  their  demand. 

6  During  drill  and  during  the  execution  of  the  duties 
of  service,  soldiers  must  maintain  the  strictest  military 
discipline,  but  outside  of  service  and  drill,  in  their  politi- 
cal, civic,  and  private  life,  soldiers  must  not  be  denied  the 
rights  which  all  citizens  enjoy.  In  particular,  standing  at 
attention  and  compulsory  saluting  outside  of  service  is 
abolished. 

7  The  honoring  of  officers  is  in  the  same  manner  abol- 
ished: "Your  Excellency,"  "Your  Honor,"  etc.,  are  re- 
placed by  "Mr.  General,"  "Mr.  Colonel,"  etc. 


84      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

The  rude  treatment  of  soldiers  of  any  military  rank — 
and  in  particular  addressing  them  as  "thou" — is  forbid- 
den ;  company  committees  must  be  informed  regarding  any 
violation  of  this,  as  well  as  of  misunderstandings  between 
officers  and  soldiers. 

This  order  is  to  be  read  in  all  companies,  battalions,  regi- 
ments, ships'  crews,  batteries,  and  other  combatant  and 
non-combatant  units. 

[Signed]  Petrograd  Soviet  of  Soldiers'  and  Workers' 

Delegates 

The  genesis  of  this  order  appears  to  have  been  as 
follows:  The  revolting  units  of  the  Petrograd  gar- 
rison have  very  good  reason  for  not  trusting  their 
officers.  They  bivouac  in  the  huge  Tauride  Palace, 
not  only  to  protect  the  Duma,  but  to  be  protected 
by  it.     Thus  Mrs.  Williams  testifies ; 

I  asked  the  stalwart  gallant  Volynsky  men  whether  they 
would  return  to  their  barracks  for  supper.  The  soldiers 
clustered  closer  round  me  and  protested  excitedly.  "To 
the  barracks  ?  Oh,  no !  What  for  ?  The  whole  lot  of  us 
would  be  shot.  We  sha'n't  move  from  the  Duma.  Here 
we  '11  all  remain,  let  them  defend  us  here." 

As  yet  there  was  not  much  self-confidence  in  these  troops, 
who  from  being  tsarist  had  in  a  few  hours  become  revolu- 
tionary. 

To  these  anxious,  rebellious  soldiers  the  well- 
meant  but  indiscreet  advice  of  Rodzianko  is  a  cold 
douche.  For  in  addressing  the  Preobrazhensky 
Guards  who  have  come  over  to  the  side  of  the  Duma 
he  says:  "I  ask  you  to  remain  faithful  to  your  offi- 
cers and  to  have  confidence  in  them.  Return  quietly 
to  your  barracks  and  come  here  at  the  first  call 
when  you  may  ho  required.** 


ARMY  ORDER  NUMBER  ONE  85 

Singular  failure  to  enter  into  his  hearers'  state 
of  mind! 

Then,  too,  word  runs  among  the  soldiers  that  the 
officers  are  depriving  the  soldiers  of  their  rifles, 
with  the  intention,  of  course,  of  having  them  ar- 
rested and  shot  later  on.  In  fact,  Colonel  Engel- 
hardt  puts  out  a  proclamation  on  March  14th  to  the 
effect  that  these  rumors  have  been  investigated  and 
found  to  be  baseless. 

It  is  natural,  then,  that  when,  on  the  evening  of 
March  fourteenth,  delegates  elected  by  soldiers  of 
twenty  different  units  of  the  Petrograd  garrison  con- 
vene in  the  Tauride  Palace  to  sit  in  the  Soviet,  they 
inform  Colonel  Engelliardt,  chairman  of  the  Military 
Commission,  that  they  cannot  trust  their  officers  who 
did  not  take  part  in  the  revolutionary  struggle,  and 
they  ask  for  an  order  authorizing  the  election  of  of- 
ficers by  companies,  squadrons,  batteries,  and  com- 
mands. Engelhardt  submits  the  proposal  to  the 
Provisional  Committee  of  the  Duma  and  all  its  mem- 
bers, including  Guchkov,  oppose  issuing  such  an  or- 
der, considering  it  out  of  the  question  to  solve  in 
haste  so  serious  a  problem, 

A  little  later  comes  a  member  of  the  Soviet  in  sol- 
dier's uniform  and  offers  to  assist  in  the  preparation 
of  an  order  which  has  for  its  purpose  the  regulation 
of  relations  between  officers  and  soldiers  on  a  new 
basis.  After  learning  that  the  Provisional  Com- 
mittee 'judges  such  an  order  premature,  he  leaves 
saying:  "So  much  the  better;  we  wall  draft  it  our- 
selves." 

Let  Steklov  now  take  up  the  tale.  Speaking  a 
month  later  when  no  one  cares  to  claim  the  order  as 


86      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

his  child,  he  says:  ''If  among  all  the  acts  of  the 
Soviet  of  Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Delegates  there  is 
one  which  was  a  true  creation  of  the  masses,  then  it  is 
this  Order  Number  One,  prepared  by  soldiers'  dele- 
gates who  came  from  the  street  and  from  the  revo- 
lutionary barracks.  It  was  so  much  an  act  of  crea- 
tion of  these  masses,  that  the  majority  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Executive  Committee,  and  among  them 
those  who  at  this  time  were  carrying  on  negotiations 
with  the  Provisional  Government,  learned  of  this  act 
after  it  was  printed.  The  soldiers  themselves  pre- 
pared this  act." 

Army  Order  No.  1  is  immediately  printed  and  is 
made  public  on  the  afternoon  of  March  15th.  Thou- 
sands of  copies  are  sent  by  special  agents  to  the  sol- 
diers all  along  the  front.  It  thus  reached  them  be- 
fore it  reached  their  officers,  instead  of  being  handed 
down  by  the  staff  through  the  channel  of  corps,  di- 
vision, brigade,  regiment,  etc!  The  effects  are  so 
alarming  that  two  days  later,  on  the  initiative  of  the 
War  Department,  the  Executive  Committee  causes 
to  be  prepared  and  issues  Order  No.  2,  which  ex- 
plains that  the  right  of  each  military  unit  to  elect 
its  committee  does  not  imply  the  right  to  elect  its 
officers.  These  committees,  it  is  explained,  are  to 
be  constituted  not  throughout  the  army,  but  only  in 
the  Petrograd  garrison,  in  order  that  its  represen- 
tatives may  share  in  the  deliberations  of  the  Pet- 
rograd Soviet  and  inform  it  as  to  the  soldiers' 
views. 

However,  the  fat  is  in  the  fire.  It  is  too  late  to 
counteract  the  effects  of  Order  No.  1.  The  privates 
in  the  trenches  do  not  see  any  reason  why  they 


ARMY  ORDER  NUMBER  ONE  87 

should  be  denied  privileges  which  have  been  ex- 
tended to  the  men  of  the  reserve  regiments  sitting 
safe  and  comfortable  in  the  capital.  So  they  create 
their  committees  and  Soviets,  which  not  only  look 
after  the  economic,  social,  and  cultural  welfare  of 
the  men  but,  setting  aside  the  authority  of  the  of- 
ficers, presume  to  decide  questions  relating  to  mili- 
tary operations.  The  appalling  results  of  these 
measures  will  be  set  forth  in  a  later  chapter. 


CHAPTER  X 
THE  CLOUD  NO  BIGGER  THAN  A  MAN'S  HAND 

WE  have  seen  the  formation,  out  of  a  Duma  ex- 
pressly devised  to  insure  the  ascendancy  of 
the  propertied,  of  a  Provisional  Government  com- 
posed with  one  exception  of  members  of  the  bour- 
geois political  groups.  We  have  noted  the  spring- 
ing up  of  Soviets  representing  the  huge  working 
masses,  who  can  never  feel  that  the  Duma  or  any 
government  of  its  choosing  represents  them.  What 
relation  now  must  develop  between  these  two  bodies, 
one  possessing  all  legal  power,  while  the  other  pos- 
sesses de  facto  power? 

At  the  beginning  the  Duma  Provisional  Commit- 
tee, and  later  the  Provisional  Government,  taking 
the  initiative,  carries  on  negotiations  with  the  Soviet 
leaders  as  with  representatives  of  a  co-equal  body. 
In  a  radio  to  the  world  on  March  18th  the  Provis- 
ional Government  thus  describes  its  early  relation 
with  the  Soviet: 

A  serious  complication  arose  due  to  the  agitated  state 
of  the  public  mind  and  to  the  energetic  activities  of  the  po- 
litical organization  of  the  Left.  The  Provisional  Com- 
mittee, however,  succeeded  in  entering  into  relations  with 
the  most  influential  of  these  organizations — the  Soviet  of 
Workers'  Delegates,  which  was  elected  promptly  by  Petro- 
grad  factories  and  shops.  The  laboring  population  of 
Petrograd  demonstrated  a  great  degree  of  political  wisdom, 

ss 


THE  CLOUD  89 

and,  realizing  the  danger  which  was  threatening  the  capi- 
tal and  the  country,  on  the  night  of  the  14th  of  March  it 
came  to  an  agreement  with  the  Provisional  Committee  of 
the  Duma  regarding  the  intended  reforms  and  political 
activity  of  the  latter,  as  well  as  its  own  support  of  the 
future  government  within  the  limits  of  political  plans  made 
public. 

On  the  evening  of  the  15th,  after  prolonged  discussion 
before  an  audience  of  a  thousand  workmgmen,  the  projects 
prepared  by  both  sides  received  the  approval  of  the  great 
majority  of  all  against  fifteen.  This  accord  promised  to 
end  finally  the  events  on  the  streets  of  the  capital  which 
were  severely  condemned  in  the  appeal  issued  by  the  Soviet 
of  Workers'  Delegates. 

The  appeal  just  referred  to  is  couched  in  these 
terms : 

Comrades  and  Citizens! 

The  new  Government  which  is  being  organized  from  the 
moderate  classes  of  society  announced  to-day  the  reforms 
which  it  promises  to  realize,  partly  during  the  process  of 
the  struggle  with  the  old  regime  and  partly  upon  the  termi- 
nation of  this  struggle.  And  among  these  reforms  some 
must  be  welcomed  by  the  wide  democratic  circles.  Politi- 
cal amnesty,  the  obligation  to  take  upon  itself  preparations 
for  the  Constituent  Assembly,  the  realization  of  civic  lib- 
erties, and  the  abolition  of  discrimination  between  nationali- 
ties. We  trust  that  the  democracy  will  support  this  new- 
born government  in  proportion  to  its  fulfilment  of  these 
obligations  and  its  determined  struggle  with  the  old  gov- 
ernment. 

Ill  wresting  the  nine-point  program  from  the 
group  of  moderate  bourgeois  the  Soviet  bound  it- 
self in  a  certain  measure  and  it  promptly  proceeds 


90      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

to  fulfill  its  obligations.  On  March  ISth  the  Soviet 
calls  upon  the  workers  within  its  jurisdiction  to 
return  to  work.    It  says : 

Recognizing  that  the  first  onslaught  of  the  rebellious  peo- 
ple upon  the  old  order  has  been  crowned  with  success  and 
has  sufficiently  secured  the  position  of  the  working  class  in 
its  revolutionary  struggle,  the  Soviet  of  Workers'  and  Sol- 
diers' Delegates  considers  it  advisable  now  to  resume  work 
in  the  Petrograd  district  with  the  understanding  that  in 
case  it  shall  be  necessary  to  cease  work  again  it  shall  be  done 
at  the  first  signal. 

The  continuation  of  strikes  threatens  to  disorganize  to  a 
great  degree  the  economic  life  of  the  country,  already  un- 
dermined by  the  old  regime. 

On  March  21st  through  its  executive  committee 
the  Soviet  seeks  to  aid  War  Minister  Guchkov  in 
stemming  the  alarming  tide  of  disobedience  which 
is  showing  itself  among  the  soldiers.  After  assuring 
the  soldiers  of  the  safety  of  the  new  regime  it  goes 
on  to  say : 

Only  internal  strife  in  the  army  can  interfere  with  the 
preservation  of  freedom.  Differences  between  officers  and 
soldiers  also  threaten  our  freedom,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  all 
citizens  to  assist  in  adjusting  the  relations  between  the 
soldiers  and  those  officers  who  have  recognized  the  new 
order  in  Russia.  And  we  are  appealing  to  the  officers,  ask- 
ing them  to  respect  the  personality  of  the  citizen  soldiers 
in  their  relations  on  duty  and  off  duty. 

Hoping  that  the  officers  will  heed  our  appeal,  we  appeal 
to  the  soldiers  to  execute  their  military  duties  strictly  at 
the  front  and  during  the  time  they  are  on  duty. 

At  the  same  time  the  committee  informs  the  armies  at 


THE  CLOUD  91 

the  front  that  Orders  No.  1  and  No.  2  concern  only  the  sol- 
diers of  the  Petrograd  district,  as  is  stated  in  the  titles  of 
these  orders.  As  to  the  armies  at  the  front,  the  War  Min- 
ister promises  to  prepare  immediately,  with  the  aid  of  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Soviet  of  Workers'  and  Sol- 
diers' Delegates,  new  rules  for  the  relations  of  the  soldiers 
and  the  command. 

One  may  wonder  why  this  self-conscious  and  en- 
ergetic "revolutionary  democracy"  did  not  itself 
create  a  government  for  Russia  instead  of  leaving 
the  initiative  to  a  body  so  unrepresentative  as  the 
Duma.  One  reason  is  that  at  the  moment  the  de- 
cision had  to  be  made  there  was  no  assurance  that 
the  Revolution  would  be  successful.  The  tsar's  min- 
isters were  still  at  large  and  no  one  knew  what  would 
be  the  attitude  of  the  garrison  at  Tsarskoe  Selo  or 
of  the  troops  at  the  front  toward  the  overturn  in  the 
capital.  Since  there  was  less  risk  in  a  legal  body 
like  the  Duma  taking  steps  to  restore  order,  it  was 
allowed  to  take  the  lead. 

It  was  felt,  too,  that  the  revolutionists  were  not 
yet  strong  enough  to  undertake  the  exceedingly  com- 
plicated task  of  organizing  the  State.  Moreover, 
as  Izvestia,  the  Soviet  organ,  remarks  in  an  edi- 
torial on  March  15th : 

Every  mistake  of  the  government  created  by  the  Soviet 
of  Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Delegates  would  be  skilfully 
used  by  the  reactionaries;  they  could  without  difficulty 
develop  dissatisfaction  among  the  backward  elements  of 
the  armed  and  unarmed  people  and  thus  would  prepare  the 
legions  of  the  counter-revolutionary  army.  And  no  matter 
how  bravely  our  revolutionary  soldiers  might  fight  in  the 


92      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

struggle  with  this  black  army,  if  in  a  decisive  moment  they 
were  deserted  by  their  officers,  they  would  inevitably  be 
defeated. 

Again,  the  Soviet  leaders  were  reluctant  to  take 
upon  their  shoulders  the  burden  of  conducting  the 
Government,  because  they  wished  to  be  free  to  de- 
vote themselves  to  preparing  the  people  for  the  elec- 
tion of  the  Constituent  Assembly  which  was  expected 
to  take  place  within  three  or  four  months. 

In  this  ill-assorted  marriage  of  the  bourgeois  Min- 
istry with  the  democratic  Soviet  it  is  not  long  be- 
fore "'incompatibility"  begins  to  show  itself. 

On  March  22d  Prince  Lvov  gives  out  the  state- 
ment : 

The  question  of  the  fate  of  Nicholas  was  discussed  at  the 
meeting  of  the  Council  of  Ministers  yesterday.  The  major- 
ity is  in  favor  of  sending  the  former  tsar  with  his  entire 
family  to  England.  The  question  of  the  necessity  of  re- 
moving the  Dynasty  from  Russian  territory  had  no  opposi- 
tion.    No  final  decision  was  reached  yesterda3^ 

The  sequel  appears  from  the  report  of  Sokolov 
to  the  Soviet  next  day: 

It  became  known  yesterday  that  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment had  agreed  to  the  departure  of  Nicliolas  II  to  England 
and  it  had  entered  into  negotiations  witli  llie  British  Gov- 
ernment without  obtaining  our  consent  1o  do  so  and  without 
even  informing  the  Executive  Commiltoe.  ^Yc  (hen  foimd 
it  necessary  to  act  independently;  we  mobilized  all  the  mili- 
tary" forces  that  were  under  our  influence  and  so  brought 
it  to  pass  that  Nicholas  II  could  not  leave  Tsarskoe  Selo 
without  our  consent ;  we  sent  telegrams  to  all  railroads  re- 


THE  CLOUD  93 

questing  every  railroad  organization,  every  station-master, 
every  group  of  railroad  workers  to  detain  the  train  on  which 
Nicholas  II  is  carried,  no  matter  where  that  train  would  be 
and  no  matter  when  he  would  be  traveling.  Then  we  sent 
our  commissaries  to  the  station  of  the  Tsarskoe  Selo  and  to 
Tsarskoe  Selo  itself  and  with  them  we  sent  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  military  forces  to  surround  the  Palace  with  a  dense 
ring  of  infantry,  armored  automobiles,  and  machine  guns. 
By  so  executing  our  will  we  practically  placed  Nicholas  II 
in  a  position  where  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  leave.  We 
entered  into  negotiations  with  the  Provisional  Government 
which  at  first  was  reluctant,  but  in  the  end  it  was  obliged 
to  sanction  everything  that  we  did,  and  so  the  former  Em- 
peror is  at  the  present  time  not  only  under  our  guardian- 
ship but  also  under  the  guardianship  of  the  Provisional 
Government. 

The  Soviet  promptly  approved  the  very  energetic 
action  of  its  executive  committee. 

The  army  high  command  contained  many  gen- 
erals hostile  in  their  hearts  to  the  new  order  and 
not  always  did  they  succeed  in  cloaking  their  en- 
mity. On  March  16th  the  new  commander-in-chief 
issued  an  order  from  headquarters  declaring  that 
there  are  appearing  from  Petrograd  ''purely  revo- 
lutionary licentious  gangs  who  are  attempting  to 
disarm  gendarmes  on  railroads."  He  directed  to 
intercept  them  and  not  to  disperse  them,  but  to 
capture  them  and  try  them  by  a  court  martial, 
' '  whose  sentences  should  be  carried  out  on  the  spot. ' ' 
Inasmuch  as  these  "gangs"  were  bands  of  revolu- 
tionists sent  out  in  good  faith  by  the  Petrograd  So- 
viet to  disarm  the  tsarist  railway  gendarmes  in  order 
to  make  them  powerless  to  harm  the  new  regime, 
General  Alexiev's  order  to  have  them  shot  or  hanged 


94      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

forthwith  after  trial  by  court  martial  was  a  slap  in 
the  face  of  the  Revolution. 

Similar  irritants  were  the  order  of  General  Radko- 
Dmitriev  which  threatened  with  field  court  martial 
soldiers  who  refused  to  salute  officers,  aJid  the  order 
of  General  Evert,  who  on  March  19th  not  only  recog- 
nized Grand  Duke  Nicholas  as  commander-in-chief, 
although  the  Government  had  informed  the  front 
that  it  did  not.  recognize  him  as  such,  but  also, 
even  after  the  abdication  of  Nicholas  II  and 
Michael,  ordered  his  troops  to  support  the 
throne  of  the  Romanovs.  Then  there  was  the 
treatment  of  General  Ivanov,  who  actually 
started  from  the  front  with  eight  hundred  ''St. 
George's  cavaliers"  to  crush  revolutionary  Pet- 
rograd.  After  a  considerable  period  of  immunity 
he  was  arrested  at  the  instance  of  the  Soviet 
of  Kiev,  but  was  released  by  Kerensky  on  giving  his 
word  to  be  faithful  to  the  Provisional  Government. 
Stung  by  criticism  of  his  action  in  this  case  and  of 
his  attitude  toward  members  of  the  tsar's  family, 
Kerensky  appeared  before  the  Petrograd  Soviet, 
where  his  eloquence  confounded  his  critics  and 
gained  him  a  great  ovation. 

The  fact  is,  the  higher  officers  and  the  general 
staff  of  the  army  are  full  of  anti-revolutionary  sen- 
timent. This  does  not  greatly  worry  Guchkov  and 
his  colleagues,  who  are  more  interested  in  winning 
the  wai-  than  in  keeping  the  Revolution,  and  who  are 
in  no  personal  danger  from  a  successful  counter- 
revolution. But  it  does  worry  the  wDrking-class 
leaders,  who  stand  in  far  greater  peril  from  the 
tsar  than  from  the  kaiser.    Every   one  of  them 


THE  CLOUD  95 

knows  there  is  a  nDose  about  his  own  neck.  They 
remember  how  in  1905  they  tliought  they  had  a  revo- 
lution when  through  October  and  November  autoc- 
racy was  Well  nigh  impotent.  But  the  cruel  beast 
''came  back''  and  took  fearful  vengeance  for  the 
mortifications  it  had  suffered.  In  the  words  of 
Olgin;! 

The  government  began  a  series  of  arrests.  It  imprisoned 
those  who  belonged  to  a  revolutionary  organization;  it  im- 
prisoned those  who  had  addressed  meetings  or  led  demon- 
strations in  the  "days  of  freedom"  (October  and  Novem- 
ber) ;  it  imprisoned  the  strike-committees  and  all  those  who 
attended  conferences,  conventions,  or  councils  of  working- 
men,  of  peasants,  of  professionals,  of  railroad  employees; 
it  imprisoned  writers,  reporters,  editors  of  newspapers, 
preachers,  soldiers,  officers.  It  imprisoned  every  one  whom 
it  suspected  of  having  given  aid  and  comfort  to  its  enemies. 
It  filled  all  the  prisons  beyond  their  capacity ;  it  sent  tens 
of  thousands  to  Siberia;  it  rented  special  houses  to  serve 
as  prisons.  It  established  courts-martial  all  over  the  coun- 
try to  try  the  most  serious  offenders,  and  the  sentence  was 
usually  death,  death,  death. 

This  spirit  of  personal  vengeance  characterized  the  puni- 
tive actions  of  the  administration  after  the  December  re- 
bellions. The  court-martial  was  prejudiced  against  the 
defendants..  The  administrative  courts  (if  courts  they 
could  be  called)  did  not  care  to  distinguish  between  inno- 
cent and  guilty.  The  system  of  imprisoning  persons  pend- 
ing the  investigation  of  the  causes  of  their  arrest  again 
became  prevalent.  Between  October,  1905,  and  April, 
1906,  the  number  of  persons  imprisoned  or  sent  to  Siberia 
by  order  of  the  administration,  in  the  majority  of  cases 
without  any  trial,  amounted  to  seventy  thmisand.    Nearly 

1  The  Soul  of  the  Russian  Revolution,  pp.  160-162. 


96      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

every  morning  a  number  of  men,  women  and  young  boys 
were  hanged.  The  number  of  executed  became  a  regular 
news  item  in  the  papers. 

More  vicious  even  than  the  court-martial  were  the  puni- 
tive expeditions.  Those  were  army  units  sent  under  the 
command  of  a  general  or  a  colonel  to  punish  the  population 
of  an  entire  district  or  a  province  or  a  city  where  the  _ 
revolutionary  outbursts  or  the  peasant  revolts  had  been 
strongest. 

It  is  not  easy  for  bourgeois  ministers,  who  sought 
only  to  replace  a  government  which  had  fallen  with- 
out complicity  on  their  part,  to  allow  for  the  desper- 
ate anxiety  of  the  popular  leaders  regarding  coun- 
ter-revolutionaries. Quite  naturally  they  shrink 
from  taking  any  step  which  might  later  cost  them 
their  lives,  while  the  Soviet  chiefs  are  bent  on  forc- 
ing the  ministers  to  do  things  which  will  irrevo- 
cably commit  them  to  the  Revolution. 

This  is  why  the  indulgence  shown  the  onhangers 
of  the  fallen  autocrat  is  sharply  resented.  On  April 
10th  Izvestia  remarks: 

One  would  expect  that  the  prirLcipal  bulwark  of  reaction 
— the  existing  Imperial  Council — would  have  ended  during 
the  first  days  of  the  revolution.  In  reality,  this  Council 
not  only  exists  but  it  blooms,  supported  by  the  people's 
money. 

A  few  days  ago  all  the- "unemployed"  members  of  this 
Council  by  appointment  received  their  monthly  thousand 
rubles  salary  for  March,  which  money,  as  usual,  was  de- 
livered to  their  homes  by  messengers.  Is  it  possible  that  the 
Provisional  Government  sincerely  believes  that  the  reaction 
was  supported  by  policemen,  and  not  by  these  pillars  of 
reaction  who  had  their  special  purpose,  and  the  majority 


THE  CLOUD  97 

of  whom  deserve  imprisonment  and  not  reward  from  tlie 
people's  treasury? 

It  would  seem  that  with  their  master  gone  they  also  would 
be  removed  and  justly  denied  payments  of  money.  The 
reality,  however,  proves  to  be  quite  the  opposite.  In  this 
regard  everything  remains  unchanged. 

Another  instance  of  undue  tenderness  for  the 
higher  parasites  of  the  court  was  the  allowance  of 
a  pension  for  Count  Fredericks,  ''Minister  of  the 
Imperial  Court,  Commander  of  the  Imperial  Head- 
quarters, Member  of  the  Imperial  Council,  General 
of  Cavalry,"  etc. 

The  Soviet,  however,  is  culpable  of  wanton  en- 
croachment. On  March  21st  its  executive  committee 
promulgates  an  order  suppressing  certain  "black 
hundred"  newspapers  and  informing  publishers 
that  without  a  special  permit  the  publication  of 
newspapers  and  periodicals  is  not  permitted.  This 
high-handed  policy  rouses  such  a  storm  of  protest 
that  two  days  later  the  censorship  order  is  with- 
drawn. 

The  difficulty  of  inducing  the  Government  to  give 
effect  to  the  developing  will  of  the  masses  is  well 
brought  out  in  Steklov's  report  before  the  All-Rus- 
sian  Conference  of  Soviets  on  April  12th.  It  is  a 
resume  of  nearly  a  month  of  experience. 

From  time  to  time  we  met  and  carried  on  desultory  con- 
versations, until  the  situation  convinced  us  that  it  was 
necessary  to  create  a  permanent  organ  of  cooperation  to  in- 
fluence the  Government.  We  were  brought  to  this  decision 
largely  by  the  activities  of  the  War  Minister  (Guchkov) 
who  up  to  this  very  day  inspires  us,  and  perhaps  you  as 
well,   with  the  greatest   concern.     And   so   the   Executive 


98      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

Committee  resolved  to  create  a  delegation  which  would  al- 
ways inform  the  Soviet  of  Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Delegates 
of  the  intentions  and  plans  of  the  Government,  and  would 
inform  the  Government  regarding  the  demands  of  the  rev- 
olutionary people;  would  bring  pressure  to  bear  upon  the 
Government  and  would  control  the  actual  execution  of  our 
demands !  At  the  same  time  the  Executive  Committee  con- 
sidered it  necessary  to  adopt  that  measure  which  the  situa- 
tion itself  virtually  presented  to  us :  several  departments  of 
the  government  requested  us  to  delegate  to  them  commis- 
saries who  would  right  then  and  there  express  the  will  of 
the  people,  that  would  sanction  this  will  in  legislative  form. 
First  of  all  our  provisioning  organs  appeared,  then  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Ministry  of  Commerce.  But  few  of  the 
ministers  came  readily  to  meet  us,  and  we  decided  to  give  a 
push  to  the  good  will  of  those  who  did  not  come  and  to  take 
upon  ourselves  the  initiative  by  sending  our  commissaries 
to  their  departments.  First  of  all  we  sent  a  special  delega- 
tion to  the  War  Minister  for  the  purpose  of  establishing 
normal  relations  and  control  over  the  actions  of  this  Min- 
istry. Verbally  he  was  ready  to  meet  our  wishes  and  prom- 
ised to  prepare  an  agreement  with  us  about  new  conditions 
for  relations  between  the  commanders  and  the  soldiers  at 
the  front,  but  after  once  unexpectedly  absenting  himself 
from  the  conferences,  the  War  ^linister  since  then  has  not 
taken  any  steps  to  renew  this  conference  and  evades  it  in 
every  possible  manner.  Until  recently  he  did  not  appear 
at  those  general  meetings  of  the  Council  of  Ministers  to 
which  we  came  with  our  statements  and  demands,  and  I 
must  say  that  three  quarters  of  the  issues  which  we  have  to 
bring  before  the  Provisional  Government  concern  the  War 
Ministry. 

At  its  meeting  on  March  23d  the  Soviet  approves 
the  proposal  of  its  executive  committee  that  a  Con- 
trol Commission  of  five  be  created  "to  enter  im- 


THE  CLOUD  99 

mediately  into  relation  with  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment in  order  to  learn  whether  or  not  it  will  permit 
permanent  control  by  the  Soviet." 

It  is  not  long  before 'thinking  men  scent  danger  in 
the  disposition  of  the  Soviet  to  regard  itself  as  in 
some  respects  coordinate  with  the  Pro\'isional 
Government.  Protest  is  voiced  against  ''dual  au- 
thority" and  the  central  committee  of  the  Cadet 
party  repeatedly  remonstrates  with  the  Soviet  for 
usurping  the  prerogatives  of  the  Government. 
Izvestia  counters  by  reminding  the  Cadets  of 
how  in  days  of  the  First  Duma,  eleven  years  ago, 
when  the  Duma  attempted  to  subject  the  irrespon- 
sible bureaucracy  to  its  control  as  now  the  Soviet  at- 
tempts to  subject  an  irresponsible  Provisional  Gov- 
ernment to  its  control,  the  ''black  hundred"  group 
used  to  reply:  "The  Duma  attempts  to  create 
dual  authority — which  means  chaos."  And  Isvestia 
goes  on  to  say  (April  11th) : 

Those  groups  that  are  in  power  have  always  insisted  that 
the  power  should  belong  to  them  alone.  The  groups  that 
have  ruled  the  country  have  always  been  inclined  to  see  in 
every  attempt  of  the  wider  classes  of  the  population  to 
establish  control  over  them,  an  assault  on  their  rights.  And 
against  these  assaults  they  always  bring  out  the  scare  of 
dual  authority  and  anarchy. 

A  fortnight  later  it  parries  the  charge  with  more 
fierceness : 

If  we  are  to  believe  the  bourgeois  papers,  then  Russia 
is  at  the  edge  of  an  abyss,  due  to  the  "fatal  dual  author- 
ity." 

The  cause  of  such  a  change  of  position  by  the  bourgeois 


100    THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

press  is  obvious.  Before  the  revolution  the  authority  was 
in  the  hands  of  a  small  group  of  the  largest  landowners 
and  bureaucrats,  with  the  Czar  at  the  head  and  with  a 
whole  legion  of  all  kinds  of  "Pharaohs"  below.  Now 
autliority  has  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  representatives 
of  the  bourgeoisie,  and  it  stubbornly  struggles  against  any 
attempts  to  limit  its  authority. 

All  these  cries  of  "dual  authority"  are  nothing  but  a 
struggle  of  the  bourgeoisie  for  complete  authority.  The 
issue  is  not  that  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  "single  authority," 
but  that  all  authority  should  be  exclusively  in  the  hands  of 
the  bourgeoisie. 

Only  the  bourgeois  newspapers  prate  about ' '  dual  author- 
ity."  Only  representatives  of  the  ruling  classes  and  the 
officers  speak  about  it.  The  press  of  the  Left  parties  and 
all  organizations  of  the  working  classes  do  not  complain 
about  it. 

The  ruling  classes  are  dissatisfied  because  the  Provisional 
Government  takes  into  account  the  opinion  of  the  Soviet 
of  Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Delegates.  They  do  not  care  to 
allow  the  laboring  classes  to  have  a  hand  in  the  affairs  of 
state. 

And  two  days  later  occurs  a  portent.  The  work- 
ers of  the  "Stary  Parvaianen''  factory,  2500  in  num- 
ber, hold  a  meeting  at  which  after  discussion  it  is 
resolved  among  other  things : 

To  demand  the  removal  of  the  Provisional  Government, 
which  serves  only  as  a  brake  to  the  cause  of  the  revolution, 
and  to  transfer  authority  to  the  Soviet  of  Workers'  and 
Soldiers'  Delegates; 

The  Soviet  of  Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Delegates  which 
was  started  by  the  revolutionary  proletariat  must  end  this 
war  which  has  brought  profit  only  to  capitalists  and  land- 
owners and  which  weakens  the  forces  of  the  revolutionary 
people ; 


THE  CLOUD  101 

To  organize  a  Red  Guard  and  to  arm  all  the  people ; 

To  requisition  the  printing  shops  of  all  the  bourgeois 
newspapers  which  are  carrying  on  a  campaign  against  the 
Soviet  of  Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Delegates  and  against  the 
labor  press,  and  to  turn  over  these  printing  shops  to  labor 
newspapers. 

To  carry  out  the  immediate  seizure  of  landowners',  crown, 
and  monastery  lands,  and  to  transfer  the  tools  of  produc- 
tion into  the  hands  of  the  workers. 

Verily,  the  returned  political  exiles  are  beginning 
to  make  a  difference.  These  fierce  demands  create 
scandal  and  call  forth  protest ;  but,  for  all  that,  the 
workers  of  Stary  Parvaianen  will  have  their  day. 


CHAPTER  XI 
LENIN  AND  HIS  SLOGAN 

WITHIN  five  weeks  of  the  downfall  of  the  old 
regime  arrives  on  the  scene  the  man  des- 
tined to  give  the  Revolution  a  slant  that  few  antici- 
pated. This  is  Nicholas  Lenin  (Vladimir  Ilyitch 
Ulianov)  the  master  mind  of  the  Bolshevik  or  ex- 
tremist wing  of  the  Russian  Social-Democratic  La- 
bor Part}^  That  Lenin  is  by  no  means  a  nobody 
appears  from  the  following  account  of  his  recep- 
tion which  appears  in  Izvestia,  the  bulletin  of  the 
Petrograd  Soviet,  at  this  time  controlled  by  the  po- 
litical opponents  of  the  Bolsheviks. 

Quite  unexpectedly  on  the  16th  of  April  a  tcle^am  was 
received  by  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Soviet  of 
Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Delegates  that  a  large  group  of 
immigrants  is  returning  from  abroad  and  that  among  them 
is  N.  Lenin  (V.  I.  Ulianov).  This  news  created  a  good 
deal  of  excitement  among  the  Social  Democrats  and  it  was 
immediately  decided  to  organize  a  welcoming  party  for  the 
guests.  The  Executive  Committee  resolved  to  greet  Lenin 
through  a  special  deputation.  The  presidium  of  the  All- 
Russian  Conference  also  sent  its  delegation.  Then,  too,  the 
Petersburg  Committee  of  the  Russian  Social-Democratic 
Labor  party  immediately  began  to  organize  a  welcome. 
The  time  of  the  arrival  was  inopportune,  for  the  holiday 
prevented  information  of  the  arrival  reaching  the  masses 
of  the  proletariat.  There  were  no  newspapers  and 
the  workingmen's  districts  had  to   be  informed  by  mes- 

102 


LENIN  AND  HIS  SLOGAN  103 

sengers.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  organizers  of  the 
welcome  had  only  twelve  hours  in  which  to  make  prepara- 
tions, the  news  of  the  arrival  of  Lenin  and  other  comrades 
spread  swiftly  throughout  Petrograd,  and  made  a  stir. 
Military  units  upon  being  informed  of  the  arrival  imme- 
diately issued  orders  to  send  out  companies  as  a  guard 
of  honor  to  the  Finnish  Station.  Informed  by  telephone 
of  Lenin's  arrival  the  Kronstadt  sailors  immediately  re- 
plied that,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  it  was  the  time  for  the 
goiiig  out  of  the  ice,  they  will  make  their  way  on  an  ice- 
breaker to  Petrograd  and  will  send  their  guard  of  honor 
and  an  orchestra.  As  early  as  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening 
representatives  of  various  organizations  and  districts  be- 
gan to  arrive  at  the  Finnish  Station,  and  by  ten  o'clock 
the  entire  square  in  front  of  the  station  was  thickly  packed 
by  battalions  of  the  labor  army  while  the  station  itself  was 
filled  with  the  guards  of  honor  of  the  troops  and  with  de- 
putations with  banners. 

The  Central  Coihmittee  of  the  Petersburg  Social  Demo- 
crats arrived  with  their  banners,  together  with  the  writers 
of  the  "Pravda,"  and  masses  of  workers  and  soldiers  gath- 
ered near  the  Palace  of  Kshesinskaya  where  the  Petersburg 
Committee  of  the  Russian  Social-Democratic  Labor  Party 
is  located.  At  the  van  of  the  demonstrants  rolled  an 
armored  automobile  decorated  with  the  banner  of  the  Rus- 
sian Social-Democratic  Labor  Party.  The  train  arrived 
at  11 :10.  Lenin  came  out  and  was  greeted  by  friends  and 
comrades  who  assist  him  in  party  work.  Under  the  banner 
of  the  party  he  walked  along  the  station  while  the  troops 
stood  at  attention  to  the  sounds  of  the  Marseillaise.  A 
naval  .officer  who  was  escorting  Lenin  accompanied  him 
along  a  detachment  of  sailors  where  Lenin  made  his  first 
speech  in  free  Russia  to  revolutionary  troops.  All  down 
the  line  of  troops  which  stood  in  orderly  formation  along 
the  entire  platform  as  well  as  by  the  labor  militia  Lenin 
was  greeted  enthusiastically.     In  the  reception  rooms  of 


104    THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

the  station  he  was  greeted  by  deputations  and  among  them 
by  the  representative  of  the  Executive  Committee,  N.  S. 
Tcheidze.  Finally  Lenin  came  out  on  the  square  illumi- 
nated by  search-lights.  The  entire  sea  of  heads  began  to 
move.  Swaying  banne'rs  and  huge  crowds,  crying  "Hur- 
rah!" greeted  the  arrival  of  the  old  soldier  of  the  revolu- 
tion. The  people  demanded  that  he  make  a  speech, 
Lenin  stood  up  on  an  automobile  and  silence  reigned  in  the 
square  while  he  made  his  first  speech  to  the  revolutionary 
proletariat  of  Petrograd.  Then  the  armored  car  division 
took  Lenin  on  one  of  its  cars  and  moving  slowly  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  crowd  of  many  thousands  he  left  for  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Petersburg  Committee. 

In  front  of  the  building  of  the  Petersburg  Committee  of 
the  Russian  Social-Democratic  Labor  Party  a  tremendous 
crowd  of  people  were  waiting  and  here  from  a  balcony 
Lenin  had  to  speak  three  times.  Here  he  was  greeted  by 
the  Polish  delegation  of  Social  Democrats  who  added  their 
banner  to  the  banners  of  the  revolutionary  social  democ- 
racy. 

At  the  headquarters  of  the  Petersburg  Committee  a  large, 
solemn  meeting  of  the  representatives  of  the  districts  of 
the  Russian  Social-Democratic  Labor  Party  of  Petersburg, 
Kronstadt  and  the  vicinity,  took  place.  The  celebration 
lasted  until  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  the  workers 
of  the  revolutionary  social  democracy  left  for  their  homes. 

The  party  in  which  Lenin  returned  to  Russia  via 
Germany  comprised  thirty-two  Russian  immigrants 
of  whom  nineteen  were  Bolsheviks.  Inasmuch  as 
the  British  Government  would  not  allow  them  to  re- 
turn to  their  country  by  routes  which  it  controlled, 
Martov,  who  is  no  Bolshevik,  suggested  that  they 
try  to  procure  a  passage  through  Germany  in  ex- 
change for  Germ.an  and  Austrian  prisoners  of  war 


LEXIN  AND  HIS  SLOGAN  105 

interned  in  Russia.  The  idea  was  acted  upon  and 
a  written  agreement  was  drawn  up  between  the 
Swiss  Socialist  Internationalist  Fritz  Flatten,  and 
the  German  Minister  in  Switzerland.  Its  principal 
points  were: 

(1)  All  immigrants  may  travel  regardless  of  their  views 
on  the  war. 

(2)  The  car  in  which  the  immigrants  are  to  travel  has 
the  right  of  ex-t<'rritoriality  (nobody  has  the  right  to  enter 
the  car  without  Flatten 's  permission).  There  must  be  no 
control  of  passports  or  baggage.  Travelers  agree  to  use 
their  influence  in  Russia  to  bring  about  the  release  of  a  cor- 
responding number  of  Austrian  and  German  interned  sub- 
jects. 

The  car  was  escorted  throughout  the  entire  jour- 
ney by  Flatten  and  its  inmates  frustrated  all  at- 
tempts of  the  German  Majority  Socialists  to  get 
into  communication  with  them. 

Lenin  is  the  son  of  a  school  principal  belonging 
to  the  nobility  of  the  Frovince  of  Simbirsk.  When 
he  was  sixteen  years  of  age  an  ineffaceable  im- 
pression was  made  on  his  mind  by  the  hanging  of 
his  noble-minded  elder  brother  Alexander  for  being 
implicated  in  a  student  bomb  plot  against  the  life 
of  tsar  Alexander  III.  He  took  up  the  study  of 
law  in  Kazan  University  but  was  presently  expelled 
for  preaching  socialism  among  his  fellow  students. 
He  removed  to  Fetrograd  and  tried  to  build  up  the 
Social-Democratic  Farty  among  the  workingmen. 
Arrested  in  1895,  he  was  banished  to  Siberia  after 
spending  two  years  in  prison.  Having  finished  his 
term    of    exile,    he    lived    abroad    in    Switzerland, 


106     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

founded  a  newspaper  ("The  Spark")  and  a  maga- 
zine (''The  Dawn"),  and  published  a  number  of 
serious  books,  viz.,  "The  Development  of  Capitalism 
in  Russia,"  "The  Agrarian  Question,"  "Material- 
ism and  Empirocracy, "  "  Imperalism, ' '  and  * '  During 
Twelve  Years."  He  was  an  ardent  lover  of  books, 
worked  twelve  or  fifteen  hours  a  day  in  libraries, 
and  achieved  such  solid  learning  that  in  Paris  the 
great  Russian  scholar  Kovalevsky  exclaimed: 
"What  a  fine  professor  might  have  been  made  out 
of  Lenin!"  Twenty  years  ago  there  was  extreme 
disagreement  among  Russian  revolutionists  as  to 
wiiat  ought  to  be  done  once  the  old  system  was 
smashed.  Many  insisted  there  must  be  a  "liberal" 
period  of  ascendancy  by  the  propertied  (bour- 
geoisie) before  Russia  would  be  ready  to  become  a 
socialist  commonwealth.  Lenin,  however,  contended 
that  the  right  course  is  not  to  stop  with  a  bourgeois 
republic  but  to  push  straight  through  to  working- 
class  domination.  It  was  he  who  injected  this  issue 
into  the  convention  of  the  Russian  Social  Democrats 
in  1903  and  split  the  party  into  Mensheviks  and  Bol- 
sheviks. 

Lenin  was  back  in  Petrograd  in  1905  and  from  a 
balcony,  high  up  and  unperceived  by  the  public, 
watched  the  proceedings  of  the  Petrograd  Soviet. 
Perhaps  here,  looking  down  on  this  first  labor  parlia- 
ment, the  idea  of  the  Soviet  State  dawned  upon  him. 
In  the  Soviet  he  did  not  see  a  mere  union  of  laborers 
for  winning  better  wages  and  hours  or  even  the  pro- 
letariat's watch-dog  over  a  bourgeois  government. 
He  saw  it  as  the  engine  by  which  the  workers  could 
wrest  control  from  the  capitalists  and  make  them- 


LENIN  AND  HIS  SLOGAN         .         107 

selves  masters  of  society.  He  had  to  go  into  exile 
again  in  1907  and  lived  amid  poverty  and  discourage- 
ment until  in  1912  the  Russian  labor  movement  be- 
gan to  pick  up.  Then  he  migrated  to  Cracow  in 
Galicia  in  order  to  be  in  close  touch  with  his  party 
friends  and  followers  in  Russia. 

No  sooner  is  Lenin  back  in  Petrograd  in  April, 
1917,  than  he  sets  afoot  a  vigorous  propaganda. 
The  handsome  villa  of  the  ballet-dancer  Kshesins- 
kaya  on  the  fashionable  Kameno-Ostrovski  Pros- 
pekt,  which  has  been  abandoned  by  its  owner  in  the 
first  days  of  the  Revolution,  is  ''requisitioned"  as 
the  Bolshevik  headquarters.  Daily  from  a  kiosk  in 
the  garden  speeches  are  delivered  to  crowds  of  work- 
men in  the  street  on  the  other  side  of  the  palings. 

So  long  as  Russia  was  tsarist,  Lenin  was  a  defeat- 
ist. He  wrote:  "We  Russians  are  for  the  defeat 
of  Russia,  since  that  would  faciUtate  her  internal  en- 
franchisement, her  liberation  from  the  fetters  of 
tsarism."  Trotsky,  on  the  other  hand,  rightly  ar- 
gued in  October,  1914,  that  the  defeat  of  the  tsar, 
while  strengthening  revolution  in  Russia,  would 
weaken  it  elsewhere.  ''In  Germany  the  transforma- 
tion which  began  with  the  capitulation  of  the  pro- 
letarian party  to  militarist  nationalism  would  be 
hastened,  the  working  class  there  would  fatten  on 
the  crumbs  which  fell  from  the  table  of  triumphant 
imperialism,  and  social  revolution  would  be  struck 
to  the  heart." 

In  his  first  appearance  before  the  Petrograd 
Soviet  Lenin  declares : 

"It  is  being  said  that  I  am  a  partisan  of  a  separ- 
ate peace.     I  declare  that  this  is  slander.    I  am  only 


108     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

saying  that  the  war,  which  was  begun  by  the  capital- 
ists of  the  whole  world  and  Nicholas  Romanov,  is 
being  carried  on  by  our  government,  which  also  con- 
sists entirely  of  capitalists.  The  working  class  does 
not  need  the  war.  Therefore,  why  not  publish  the 
secret  treaties  and  the  diplomatic  documents  of  the 
capitalistic  governments?  We  will  not  succeed  in 
ending  the  war  so  long  as  we  have  a  capitalistic 
government.  The  war  can  be  ended  only  by  a  labor 
revolution  of  the  whole  world,  which  we  are  advocat- 
ing. Otherwise  this  snarl  cannot  be  disentangled 
and  humanity  cannot  be  freed  from  it." 

Lenin  is  a  Marxian  socialist.  He  believes  that 
the  substitution,  within  the  last  century  and  a  half, 
of  machine  industry  for  the  old  system  of  handicraft 
industry,  such  as  we  still  see  in  China  or  India, 
opened  a  new  stage  in  the  development  of  society. 
Production  by  the  aid  of  machinery — i.  e.,  capital- 
istic industry — has  not  only  triumphed  over  the 
handicrafts,  but  constantly  industry  becomes  more 
capitalistic.  Constantly  the  role  of  the  worker  be- 
comes less  and  the  role  of  mechanism  becomes 
greater.  As  this  occurs,  the  larger  is  the  propor- 
tion of  the  whole  output  that  goes  as  the  share  of 
the  owners  of  capital.  Thus  there  is  forming  in  all 
societies  with  modern  industry  a  distinct  capitalist 
class,  which  does  nothing  whatever  in  production 
but  which,  in  virtue  of  its  ownership  of  the  means 
of  production,  claims  more  and  more  of  all  wealth 
produced  and  wields  more  and  more  social  power. 
The  getting  rid  of  this  kept  class,  by  the  substitution 
of  community  ownership  of  the  means  of  pro- 
duction for  private  ownership,  constitutes  the  ''so- 


LENIN  AND  HIS  SLOGAN  109 

cial  revolution"  which  the  Marxians  are  trying  to 
bring  about.  It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  col- 
lective ownership  of  factories,  smelters,  mines,  oil- 
wells,  means  of  transport,  shops,  etc.,  does  not  call 
for  *' community  of  goods"  in  the  old  sense  of  goods 
for  consumption,  nor  for  equality  of  the  incomes  re- 
ceived by  the  workers,  nor  for  the  all-round  dedica- 
tion of  the  individual  to  the  service  of  the  commun- 
ity, as  the  ante-Marxian  communistic  proposals 
were  apt  to  do. 

Lenin  is  not  only  a  socialist ;  he  is  an  internation- 
alist. To  him  the  opposition  between  nations  means 
very  little;  the  thing  of  real  consequence  is  the  op- 
position between  classes.  The  bourgeoisie  own  the 
capital  by  means  of  which  they  "exploit"  the  great 
majority  of  the  workers.  Relief  can  come  only  by 
substituting  puhlic  capitalism,  (i.  e.,  collectivism,  or 
communism)  for  private  capitalism.  This  funda- 
mental change  (revolution)  will  never  come  of  it- 
self nor  by  the  conversion  of  the  bourgeoisie,  or  a 
part  of  them,  to  Communism.  It  will  come,  if  it 
comes  at  all,  only  by  the  revolutionary  efforts  of  the  / 
class-conscious  workers.  Of  its  own  will  the  kept 
class  will  never  give  up  its  privileged  position  of 
living  without  work  in  virtue  of  its  ownership  of 
the  means  of  production.  This  means  that  it  must 
be  dispossessed  by  force. 

Lenin  insists  upon  the  necessity  of  a  dictatorship 
of  the  proletariat  during  the  transition  process  from 
the  old  order  to  the  new  order.  Of  what  use  is  it 
that  public  bodies  should  be  made  up  partly  of  rep- 
resentatives of  the  workers  and  partly  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  kept  classes  f    No  amount  of  discus- 


110    THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

sion  will  bring  them  into  agreement.  Compromise 
will  but  disappoint  both  sides,  for  each  would  have  to 
give  up  a  part  of  what  it  considers  essential.  While 
the  kept  class  is  in  process  of  being  ousted  from  its 
privileged  position  no  common  purpose  is  possible 
to  the  two  elements.  Between  them  there  can  be 
nothing  but  a  trial  of  strength.  How  foohsh  it  is, 
then,  for  the  proletariat  to  admit  to  its  governing 
bodies  representatives  of  the  enemy  class,  the  bour- 
geoisie, to  spy  upon,  trick,  confuse,  and  corrupt 
them? 

In  the  rapid  formation  of  Soviets  of  workers  and 
soldiers  in  all  the  towns  of  Russia  and  in  the  unity 
of  purpose  and  of  interconnection  among  these 
Soviets,  Lenin  sees  the  shaping  of  an  instrument 
whereby  the  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat  may  be 
realized.  He  therefore  wishes  to  wipe  out  the  ex- 
isting governing  bodies,  municipal  dumas,  district 
and  provisional  zemstvos,  and  the  Provisional  Gov- 
ernment, substituting  for  them  a  hierarchy  of 
Soviets  culminating  in  the  Executive  Committee  of 
the  All-Russian  Congress  of  Soviets.  So  from  his 
first  arrival  in  Petrograd  he  sounds  the  slogan  ' '  All 
power  to  the  Soviets ! '  * 

He  opposes  the  Provisional  Government  because 
a  group  of  bourgeoisie  will  never  consent  to  actions 
which  will  destroy  the  economic  foundations  of  their 
class.  He  insists  likewise  that  a  coalition  govern- 
ment will  disappoint  expectations  and  points  out 
that  in  such  ministries  the  Socialists  always  come  to 
support  bourgeois  policies.  He  is  not  even  in  favor 
of  an  all-Socialist  government  because,  in  relation 
to  those  who  want  to  introduce  community  owner- 


LENIN  AND  HIS  SLOGAN  111 

ship  of  capital  noiv,  those  who,  like  the  Menshevik 
Social  Democrats,  want  it  not  now  but  in  some  in- 
definite future  time,  wdll  behave  the  same  as  non- 
Socialists.  So  he  labors  to  disseminate  his  ideas 
through  the  mass  of  toilers  in  order  to  build  up  in 
the  Soviets  a  Bolshevik  majority  which  will  institute 
a  Bolshevik  government. 

Lenin  visualizes  two  stages  in  the  Revolution. 
During  the  first  stage  the  revolutionary  proletariat 
in  alliance  with  the  whole  peasantry,  which  he  con- 
siders as  still  dominated  by  its  upper  stratum,  the 
kidaks  or  rich  peasants,  abolishes  by  force  the  power 
of  the  landed  gentry  and  the  industrial  bourgeoisie. 
It  is  with  the  latter  than  Lenin's  Menshevik  oppo- 
nents would  ally  themselves.  During  the  second 
stage  the  proletariat,  this  time  in  alliance  with  the 
poorest  peasantry  (those  who,  having  little  or  no 
land,  have  to  hire  out),  overthrows  the  power  of  the 
emplo}ang  peasantry.  The  proletarian  revolution  is 
then  complete. 

One  should  remember  that  Lenin  is  not  an  anar- 
chist. Before  the  Petrograd  Soviet  he  stated  in 
April : 

"We  do  not  need  such  a  republic  as  exists  in  other 
countries,  a  republic  with  functionaries,  police,  and 
a  permanent  army.  I  consider  that  our  Provisional 
Government  emanates  from  the  capitalists.  I  will 
be  asked :  '  Therefore  you  are  against  government  ? ' 
No,  this  is  slander.  On  the  contrary,  a  government 
is  necessary,  but  it  must  be  the  firmest  revolutionary 
government." 

Interesting  in  this  connection  is  the  protest  pub- 
lished in  the  Bourse  Gazette  of  May  1st  by  the  Petro- 


112     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

grad  Club  of  Anarchists,  complaining  that  Lenin's 
ideas  have  been  confounded  with  anarchism.  The 
club  says : 

We  consider  it  necessary  to  state  that  wiille  Lenin  calls 
himself  a  Communist,  he  does  not  break  with  either  state 
socialism  nor  with  social  democracy,  and  therefore  he  is 
absolutely-  foreign  to  anarchism;  his  demagogic  actions  are 
not  acceptable  to  us.  Besides  this,  while  we  do  not  pre- 
sume to  accuse  Lenin  of  insincerity,  many  anarchists  have 
taken  a  negative  stand  on  Lenin's  trip  through  Germany, 
calling  it  an  unsuccessful  demonstration. 

Once  more  we  protest  against  the  vulgar  understanding 
of  anarchism  and  against  tl.o  confounding  of  Lenin's  name 
with  the  name  of  anarchy,  which  is  dear  to  us. 

We  request  other  newspapers  to  reprint  this. 

Such  are  the  doctrines  now  cast  like  a  new  fer- 
ment into  the  minds  of  the  Kussian  workers  and 
soldiers.  This  is  not  tli,e  place  to  pronounce  upon 
them  or  their  author.     History  will  do  that. 


Nikolai  Lenin 

(V.  Oulianoff) 
Prime  Minister  of  the  Soviet  Government 


c    g 


^  u 


CHAPTER  XII 
THE  MAY  CRISIS 

A  COMPLETE  contradiction  exists  between  the 
bourgeois  theory  of  the  war  and  the  socialist 
theory  and  hardly  has  the  first  flush  of  the  Revolu- 
tion passed  before  this  brings  about  a  startling  con- 
frontation of  opposed  social  classes.  According  to 
the  bourgeois  theory,  Germany  and  Austria,  aspir- 
ing to  world  domination,  are  trying  to  subjugate  the 
free  democracies  of  Europe:  England,  Prance,  and 
Belgium.  To  assure  them  of  future  security  it  is 
necessary  for  the  Allies  to  win  a  ''complete  victory." 
According  to  the  Socialists  the  war  is  a  result  of  the 
competition  of  the  ruling  classes  in  England,  France, 
and  Russia,  on  the  one  hand,  in  Germany  and  Aus- 
tria on  the  other,  who  are  aiming  to  conquer  and 
subjugate  foreigii  lands  and  peoples.  In  the  course 
of  the  last  twenty  or  thirty  years  these  attempts  be- 
came more  and  more  apparent  and,  as  neither  side 
wished  to  yield  to  the  other,  both  sides  industriously 
increased  their  armaments.  Owing  to  the  growth  of 
armaments  since  the  Russo-Japanese  War  and  the 
stubbornness  of  both  sides  there  were  several  oc- 
casions before  1914  when  there  was  danger  of 
the  war  breaking  out.  Just  on  the  eve  of  this 
war,  in  the  spring  of  1914,  Russia  had  undertaken  a 
military^  program  calling  for  a  huge  increase  of  her 
forces.    It  was   chiefly   this  that  precipitated  the 

113 


114     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

conflict.  Germany  and  Austria  could  not  afford  to 
postpone  the  war  lest  Russia  should  be  able  to  carry 
out  her  great  military  program. 

In  Russia  it  is  considered  indisputable  that  the 
Austro-German  coalition  aims  at  conquest;  but  like 
aims  have  been  displayed  during  the  war  by  Russia 
and  her  allies.  From  the  Russian  side  statements 
have  been  made  regarding  the  intention  of  obtaining 
Constantinople,  the  Dardanelles,  Galicia,  Armenia, 
and  reannexing  Poland,  which  is  being  liberated. 
The  British  imperialists  occupy  and  wish  to  retain 
possession  of  the  German  colonies  and  intend  to 
take  Mesapotamia.  The  French  demand  Alsace- 
Lorraine  and  German  territory  to  the  Rhine,  also 
Syria  and  a  part  of  Asia  Minor.  Italy  is  trying  to 
get  the  Tyrol  and  Trentino  and  several  districts  in 
the  Balkans,  while  all  the  Allies  wish  to  dismember 
Austria  and  the  Balkans  in  order  to  subjugate  them. 

The  Chauvinists  of  each  side  call  the  realization 
of  all  these  aims  of  conquest  a  "complete  victory 
over  the  enemy, '^ 

The  Socialists  deem  the  time  ripe  for  attacking 
the  predatory  tendencies  of  the  governments  of  all 
countries.  On  March  27th  the  Petrograd  Soviet  is- 
sues a  proclamation  to  "Comrade  proletarians  and 
all  laboring  people  of  all  countries,"  declaring  that 

the  time  ha.s  come  to  start  a  decisive  struggle  against  tlie 
intentions  of  conquest  on  the  part  of  the  governn'cnts  of 
all  countries;  the  time  has  come  for  the  peoples  to  take 
into  their  own  hands  the  decision  of  the  question  of  war 
and  peace. 

Conscious  of  its  revolutionary  power,  the  Russian  democ- 
racy announces  that  it  will,  by  every  means,  resist  the  policy 


THE  MAY  CRISIS  115 

of  conquest  of  its  ruling  classes,  and  it  calls  upon  th« 
peoples  of  Europe  for  concerted  decisive  actions  in  favor 
of  peace. 

And  we  are  appealing  to  our  brother-proletarians  of  the 
Austro-German  coalition  and  first  of  all  to  the  German 
proletariat.  From  the  first  days  of  the  war  you  were  as- 
sured that  by  raising  arms  against  autocratic  Russia,  you 
were  defending  the  culture  of  Europe  from  Asiatic  despo- 
tism. Many  of  you  saw  in  this  a  justification  of  that  sup- 
port which  you  were  giving  to  the  war.  Now  even  this 
justification  is  gone :  democratic  Russia  cannot  be  a  threat 
to  liberty  and  civilization. 

....  Throw  off  the  yoke  of  your  semi-autocratic  rulers 
in  the  same  way  that  the  Russian  people  shook  off  the 
Czar's  autocracy;  refuse  to  serve  as  an  instrument  of  con- 
quest and  violence  in  the  hands  of  kings,  landowners,  and 
bankers — and  by  coordinated  efforts  we  will  stop  the  hor- 
rible butchery,  which  is  disgracing  humanity  and  is  be- 
clouding the  great  days  of  the  birth  of  Russian  freedom. 

Laboring  people  of  all  countries:  We  are  stretching  out 
our  hands  to  you  in  brotherly  fashion  over  the  mountains 
of  corpses  of  our  brothers,  across  rivers  of  innocent  blood 
and  tears,  over  the  smoking  ruins  of  cities  and  villages, 
over  the  wreckage  of  the  treasures  of  culture;  we  appeal 
to  you  for  the  reestablishment  and  strengthening  of  inter- 
national unity.  That  will  be  the  security  for  our  future 
victories  and  the  complete  liberation  of  humanit\% 

Proletarians  of  all  countries,  unite! 

On  April  9th  the  reluctant  Government  finds  it- 
self obliged  to  do  homage  to  the  Socialist  formula 
for  ending  the  war.  In  an  appeal  to  the  citizens  of 
Russia  to  rally  to  the  defense  of  their  country 
against  the  Germans  it  says: 

While  leaving  to  the  decision  of  the  people,  in  close  unity 


116     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

with  our  Allies,  the  final  solution  of  all  problems  connected 
with  the  World  War  and  its  ending,  the  Provisional  Gov- 
ernment considers  it  its  right  and  duty  to  state  now  that 
the  aim  of  Free  Russia  is  not  the  domination  of  other 
peoples,  the  depriving  them  of  their  national  patrimony, 
nor  the  violent  seizure  of  foreign  territories,  but  that  its 
object  is  to  establish  a  durable  peace  on  the  basis  of  the 
self-determination  of  peoples. 

This  declaration,  endorsed  by  the  Soviet,  is,  of 
course,  ambiguous  in  that  ''close  unity  with  our  Al- 
lies" may  not  be  at  all  compatible  with  "the  aim  of 
Free  Russia." 

Miliukov,  however,  is  conducting  the  Ministry  of 
Foreign  Affairs  on  a  very  different  theory.  He  con- 
siders it  of  great  importance  to  Russia's  economic 
life  that  her  access  to  the  ocean  through  the  Black 
Sea  should  no  longer  be  controlled  by  the  barbarous 
Turk.  That  her  southern  gateway  to  the  world's 
highways  should  come  into  her  possession  is  in  the 
interest  of  her  peasants  and  workers  as  well  as  in  the 
interest  of  her  bourgeoisie.  In  1911  Turkey  was  at 
war  with  Italy;  the  Straits  were  closed  and  the 
peasants  of  South  Russia  could  not  export  their 
wheat.  In  the  Balkan  Wars,  1912  and  1913,  Turkey 
was  again  a  combatant  and  again  grain  export  was 
held  up.  So  Miliukov  is  right,  but  he  does  not  per- 
ceive that  the  war-weariness  of  the  masses  has 
reached  such  a  pitch  that  it  is  too  late  now  to  hope 
for  any  gains  from  the  war.  Quite  misreading  po- 
litical forces,  he  takes  a  step  which  fatally  weakens 
the  Provisional  Government  with  the  people. 

The  Soviet  distrusts  Miliukov,  and  with  reason. 
On  April  22d  he  tells  the  correspondent  of  the  Man- 


THE  MAY  CRISIS  117 

Chester  Guardian,  ''Russia  must  receive  the  sover- 
eignty of  the  Bosphorus  and  the  Dardanelles  and 
must  be  given  an  opportunity  to  fortify  them." 
Promptly  Skobelev,  Vice-Chairman  of  the  Soviet, 
telegraphs  the  press  of  foreign  countries:  ''Rus- 
sian democracy  has  nothing  in  common  with  the 
aims  proclaimed  by  Miliukov."  War  Minister 
Guchkov  having  declared  at  Jassy  that  he  is  against 
"ending  the  war  without  victory,"  Skobelev  tele- 
graphs the  press  of  the  world  that  "the  revolution- 
ary people  and  the  revolutionary  army  .  .  .  are 
for  the  ending  of  the  war  without  any  annexations  or 
indemnities  and  will  not  retreat  from  this  decision." 
Pressure  is  brought  to  bear  on  the  Provisional 
Government  to  force  it  to  communicate  its  new  at- 
titude on  the  war  to  the  Allied  governments  with 
the  request  that  they  consent  to  a  revision  of  the 
treaties  between  themselves  and  Russia  in  the  spirit 
of  "no  annexations  or  indemnities."  Otherwise  the 
Soviet  will  not  support  the  Liberty  Loan  campaign 
which  must  soon  be  launched.  Miliukov  refuses  to 
call  for  a  revision  of  the  treaties  but  consents  to 
transmit  to  the  Allied  governments  the  Manifesto  of 
April  9th  with  a  covering  note.  The  preparation 
of  this  note  is  kept  secret.  Although  it  is  agreed  to 
by  the  entire  Cabinet,  nothing  is  said  of  it  to  the 
Soviet  leaders  and  only  four  days  before  the  note  is 
sent  the  Provisional  Government  causes  to  be 
printed  in  its  Messenger  a  flat  denial  of  the  state- 
ment published  in  the  Bourse  Gazette  of  April 
261h  to  the  effect  that  a  note  regarding  the  aims  and 
objects  of  the  war  is  being  prepared  and  is  soon  to 
be  sent  to  the  Allied  powers.    Why  should  the  Pro- 


118     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

visional  Government  thus  prevaricate  unless  it  in- 
tended to  betray  the  democracy  and  then  confront 
its  leaders  with  a  fait  accompli? 

In  this  note,  which  bears  the  date  of  May  1st, 
Miliukov  assures  the  Allies  that  the  Revolution  will 
not  entail  "any  slackening  on  the  part  of  Russia  in 
the  common  struggle  of  all  the  Allies.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  nation's  determination  to  bring  the  World 
War  to  a  decisive  victory  has  been  accentuated,  ow- 
ing to  the  sense  of  responsibility  which  is  shared  by 
all  in  common  and  each  one  of  us  in  particular." 
He  promises  that  Russia  "will  maintain  a  strict  re- 
gard for  its  agreements  with  the  Allies"  and  closes 
with  an  expression  of  the  hope  that  "the  Allied 
Democracies  will  find  means  of  establishing  the 
guarantees  and  sanctions  necessary  to  prevent  any 
recourse  to  sanguinary  war  in  the  future." 

The  storm  breaks  when  on  May  2d  the  note  is 
published.  The  executive  committee  of  the  Soviet 
is  speedily  convened  in  order  to  discuss  it  and  the 
debate  lasts  from  midnight  until  half-past  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  Soviet  leaders  are  indig- 
nant at  the  reappearance  of  such  phrases  as  "de- 
cisive victory"  and  "guarantees  and  sanctions," 
which  may  be  used  to  cloak  any  kind  of  "imperial- 
istic" designs  and  are,  in  fact,  intended  to  screen 
Miliukov 's  determination  that  Russia  shall  have 
Constantinople  and  the  Straits.  At  a  session  the 
next  day  the  executive  committee  decides  to  find  out 
directly  from  the  Provisional  Government  its  mo- 
tives in  adopting  the  text  of  the  note.  On  being 
approached.  Prince  Lvov  agrees  and  accordingly  a 
joint  meeting  of  the  Cabinet,  the  executive  committee 


THE  MAY  CRISIS  119 

of  the  Soviet,  and  the  provisional  committee  of  the 
Duma  is  called  for  the  evening.  Meanwhile,  how- 
ever, a  sudden  flare-up  reveals  how  far  class  and 
mass  have  gone  asunder  since  the  halcyon  days  of 
the  Revolutionary  honeymoon. 

In  the  Reserve  Battalion  of  the  Finland  Guard 
Regiment  is  a  Lett  from  Riga,  Feodor  Linde.  He 
is  a  university  man  and  has  been  in  exile  for  his 
political  opinions.  As  a  member  of  the  committee  of 
his  battalion  he  makes  before  a  joint  meeting  of  the 
committees  of  his  regiment  a  denunciatory  report 
regarding  the  Miliukov  note.  He  moves  that  a  dem- 
onstration be  organized  against  the  note  and  his 
motion  is  unanimously  adopted.  He  then  goes  to 
other  military  units  and  engages  them  to  join  in  the 
demonstration. 

So  here  on  the  afternoon  of  May  3d  the  streets 
shake  to  the  tread  of  marching  regiments — the  Fin- 
land, the  Moscow,  the  180th,  the  Kexholm,  the  Bal- 
tic crews,  and  several  others — bearing  banners  with 
such  inscriptions  as  ''Down  with  Conquest!" 
''Down  with  Imperialistic  Policy!"  "Down  with 
Miliukov!"  "Miliukov  must  resign,"  "Long  live 
the  Democratic  Republic!",  etc.  These  fifteen 
thousand  armed  men  converge  on  the  square  in 
front  of  the  Marie  Palace  and  send  in  a  deputa- 
tion. None  of  the  ministers  are  in  the  palace,  but 
the  permanent  officials,  who  imagine  that  the  mani- 
festants  intend  mischief,  telephone  agitatedly  for 
help.  The  Petrograd  commandant,  General  Komi- 
lov,  hurries  to  the  scene  as  well  as  certain  members 
of  the  executive  committee.  In  the  meantime  mys- 
terious telephone  messages — whether  from  tsarists 


120     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

or  from  German  agents  we  do  not  know — reach  the 
various  barracks,  calling  upon  the  men  to  turn  out 
with  their  armored  cars  and  machine-guns  and  over- 
throw the  Provisional  Government.  In  the  end 
forty  thousand  men  are  astir  and  the  ferment  is  ar- 
rested only  by  orders  forbidding  the  men  to  leave 
their  quarters. 

Ffom  an  improvised  platform  Skobelev  and  Gotz 
harangue  the  excited  soldiers,  assuring  them  that 
their  feelings  will  be  considered  in  dealing  with  the 
note,  and  pointing  out  the  danger  of  domestic  dis- 
sension in  the  face  of  a  determined  enemy.  The 
troops  cheer  them  and  then  listen  to  a  delegate  from 
the  Baltic  Fleet  who  proposes  a  resolution,  censuring 
Miliukov  and  calling  for  his  resignation.  Finally 
General  Kornilov  appears  and  urges  the  men  to 
maintain  strict  discipline  and  to  return  quietly  to 
their  barracks. 

The  regiments  move  away,  but  other  regiments 
arrive  as  well  as  processions  of  factory  workers 
from  the  other  side  of  the  Neva  and  citizens  agitated 
by  the  previous  events.  The  demonstration  mania 
seizes  upon  a  large  part  of  the  population  of  the 
capital.  On  the  Marie  Square  until  late  at  night 
meetings  are  held  in  which  *'war  aims"  and  the  note 
are  passionately  discussed.  The  friends  of  the 
Government  now  have  their  innings  and  shortly  after 
ten  o'clock  an  enormous  procession  moves  into  the 
square  and  gives  Miliukov  an  ovation  when  in  re- 
sponse to  their  insistent  clamor  he  appears  and 
speaks. 

Miliukov  says : 

Citizens,  when  1  Iparnerl  this  mnrnincr  of  the  deraonstra- 


THE  MAY  CRISIS  121 

tions  which  carried  banners  with  the  inscription  "Down 
with  Miliukov!"  I  feared  not  for  Miliukov  but  for  Russia. 
I  tried  to  imagine  what  is  the  condition  of  Russia  if  these 
cries  really  express  the  mood  of  the  majority  of  the  citi- 
zens; what  would  the  ambassadors  of  our  Allies  say? 
They  would  send  telegraphic  communications  to  their  gov- 
ernments that  Russia  had  betrayed  her  allies,  that  Russia 
had  excluded  herself  from  the  list  of  the  Allied  powers. 
The  Provisional  Government  cannot  adopt  such  a  point  of 
view.  I  affirm  that  the  Provisional  Government  and  I  as 
the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  will  keep  Russia  in  such  a 
position  that  nobody  will  dare  aecuse  her  of  betrayal.  Rus- 
sia will  never  agree  to  a  separate  peace.  The  Provi- 
sional Government,  as  I  have  just  said  at  the  meeting, 
is  a  sail-boat  with  its  sails  spread.  This  boat  can  move 
forward  only  when  there  is  wind,  and  we  are  waiting  for 
your  confidence,  which  will  be  our  favorable  wind  and 
which  will  move  our  ship.  1  hope  that  you  will  retain  your 
confidence  in  us  and  that  your  confidence  will  be  that  sup- 
port for  us  with  which  we  will  be  able  to  lead  Russia  to 
the  road  of  freedom  and  welfare,  and  preserve  the  dignity 
and  freedom  of  great  Russia. 

In  the  conference  on  the  note,  which  lasts  until 
four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  Tcheidze  points  out 
that  the  note  contains  in  it  propositions  which  are 
utterly  unacceptable  to  the  Soviet.  Beclouding  the 
aims  of  the  war,  the  note  does  not  mention  the  re- 
pudiation of  all  annexations  and  indemnities  and 
can  give  the  Allies  an  absolutely  wrong  conception 
of  the  position  which  has  been  adopted  by  the  demo- 
cratic elements  of  Russia. 

Miliukov  insists  that  his  note  is  but  a  paraphrase 
and  development  of  the  statements  in  the  Manifesto 
of  April  9th.     He  rejects  the  suggestion  to  address 


122    THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

a  new  note  to  the  Allies.  The  Provisional  Govern- 
ment threatens  even  to  resign  rather  than  thus  stul- 
tify itself.  The  Soviet  leaders  deprecate  such  a 
step  and  consent  that  the  fresh  declaration  of  Rus- 
sia's war  aims  shall  be  addressed  to  her  people,  not 
to  the  Allied  governments.  The  Cabinet  agrees  to 
submit  the  draft  of  a  declaration  at  the  special  meet- 
ing of  the  Soviet  called  for  the  following  evening. 

The  events  of  May  3d  prove  to  be  but  a  dress  re- 
hearsal for  those  of  May  4th.  The  issue  between 
the  Provisional  Government  and  the  Soviet  has 
stirred  the  capital  to  its  depths  and  innumerable 
demonstrations  take  place.  The  slogans  on  the  pla- 
cards and  banners  show  a  deep  cleft  in  opinion. 
There  are  banners  expressing  full  confidence  in  the 
Soviet  and  other  banners  appealing  for  trust  in  the 
Provisional  Government.  There  are  slogans  from 
''War  to  Complete  Victory"  to  "Down  with  the 
War."  The  demonstrations  of  the  workers  differ 
sharply  from  those  of  the  well-to-do. 

Only  one  party,  the  Cadet,  summoned  its  followers 
to  make  a  street  demonstration.  The  affair  is  thus 
described  by  the  Cadet  newspaper  Ryech: 

The  van  of  the  demonstration  was  led  by  an  automobile 
which  carried  a  flag:  with  the  inscription:  "Confidence  in 
the  Provisional  Government."  In  the  automobile  were 
members  of  the  Central  Committee  of  the  party,  M.  M. 
Vinaver  and  P.  V.  Gerasimov,  who  made  speeches  to  the 
people  whenever  the  procession  halted.  In  the  rear  came 
an  automobile  truck  with  soldiers  who  were  throwing  out 
the  appeal  of  the  Party  of  People's  Freedom  (Cadets). 
On  this  automobile  truck  were  placards  with  the  inscrip- 
tions: "Victory  of  Free  Democracies,"  "Down  with  Ger- 


i 


THE  MAY  CRISIS  123 

man  Militarism,"  "Long  Live  Miliukov,"  ''Down  with 
Anarch}',"  "Long  Live  the  Revolutionary  People  of  the 
Army. ' ' 

The  crowd  traversed  Liteiny,  Nevsky,  and  Morskaya 
to  the  Marie  Palace.  Along  the  way  the  demonstration 
was  joined  by  other  crowds  with  the  same  slogans.  Among 
those  who  joined  were  especially  noted  soldiers  and  officers. 

The  crowd  grew  all  the  time,  and  by  the  time  it  arrived 
at  the  Marie  Palace  the  number  in  the  demonstration  had 
reached  several  tens  of  thousands.  In  the  wake  of  the 
parade  were  thunderous  hurrahs  in  the  honor  of  the  Pro- 
visional Government,  the  army,  and  in  honor  of  the  Allies. 
On  Morskaya  the  demonstration  met  two  French  officers. 
The  officers  were  lifted  on  the  shoulders  of  some  of  the  par- 
ticipants of  the  demonstration  and  carried  into  an  automo- 
bile in  which  were  the  members  of  the  Central  Committee. 
M.  M.  Vinaver  greeted  in  the  French  officers  our  noble 
ally  France.  The  crowd  in  reply  shouted  ''Vive  la 
France  V  At  the  Marie  Square  several  speeches  were 
made.  The  speakers  addressed  the  crowds  from  a  platform 
and  an  automobile.  The  speech  of  member  of  the  Duma 
Gerasimov,  as  well  as  the  speeches  of  soldiers  and  officers, 
created  special  enthusiasm.  The  crowd  gave  an  ovation 
to  the  members  of  the  First  Duma,  as  represented  by  Vin- 
aver. 

The  crowd  then  sought  out  Guchkov  and  Miliukov 
in  the  War  Ministry  and  gave  them  a  prolonged 
ovation. 

As  was,  however,  to  be  expected,  clashes  began  to 
occur  between  manifestants.     Ryech  says: 

About  noon  unusual  excitement  prevailed  on  Nevsky. 
In  many  places  groups  of  citizens  and  soldiers  appeared 
who  discussed  the  newspaper  descriptions  of  the  events  of 
the  previous  day. 


124    THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

The  arguments  were  passionate  and  the  opponents  did 
not  hesitate  to  use  strong  language,  but,  in  general,  until 
the  appearance  of  the  organized  demonstrations  with  armed 
people,  the  attitude  remained  peaceful. 

About  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  first  processions 
appeared,  some  with  red  flags  and  placards  reading :  ' '  Long 
Live  the  Provisional  Government!" 

About  four  o'clock  demonstrating  workingmen,  who  were 
armed  with  rifles,  appeared  on  Nevsky.  It  was  said  they 
came  from  the  Petrograd  side.  Their  huge  placards  bore 
inscriptions:  "Down  with  the  Provisional  Government." 

Near  the  Kazan  Cathedral  this  demonstration  met  an- 
other demonstration  which  carried  banners  with  the  inscrip- 
tion ;  "Long  live  the  Provisional  Government!"  A  few 
shots  were  heard  in  the  crowd.  Then  a  crowd  of  soldiers 
ran  into  the  midst  of  the  demonstration  and  tore  down 
the  placards  inscribed:  "Down  with  the  Provisional  Gov- 
ernment !" 

Near  the  building  of  the  Cit}'  Duma,  about  four  o'clock, 
a  new  encounter  took  place  with  another  group  of  demon- 
strators who  were  carrying  a  l)anner  with  the  sentiment 
"Down  with  the  Provisional  Government!"  and  who  had 
a  guard  of  armed  workingmen.  This  demonstration  was 
met  by  cries  of  protest.  A  huge  crowd  soon  formed  which 
filled  up  all  Nevsky  and  stopped  the  movement  of  street 
cars  and  carriages.  The  crowd  made  a  darsh  for  the  dem- 
onstrators and  part  of  the  flags  were  torn  doMTi.  Among 
other  things,  banners  were  taken  away  from  a  group  of 
workingmen  of  one  factory  who  were  following  the  armed 
workingmen.  Here  also  sliols  were  fii'ed.  It  is  said  that 
several  people,  and  among  them  one  woman,  were  wonnded. 
The  wounded  were  placed  in  an  aiito;nol)ile  and  taken  to 
a  hospital.  Part  of  the  paraders  with  rifles,  on  demand 
of  the  public,  were  compelled  to  leave  Nevsky  with  flags 
and  placards  under  the  protection  of  armed  workingmen. 

Everywhere  were  groups  of  citizens  wlin  were  animatedlj'^ 


THE  MAY  CRISIS  125 

discussiug  events.  Individual  voices  which  were  demand- 
ing the  removal  of  the  Provisional  Government  were 
drowned  in  the  protesting  cries  of  citizens,  who  insisted 
on  full  support  of  the  Provisional  Government.  Soon  au- 
tomobile trucks  appeared  on  Nevsky  which  were  filled  with 
citizens  with  placards  reading :  ' '  Long  Live  the  Provisional 
Government!"  The  automobiles  stopped  among  the  crowds 
and  the  speakers  appealed  to  citizens  to  support  heartily 
the  Provisional  Government.  From  some  of  the  automo- 
biles leaflets  were  being  distributed  on  which  were  printed 
well-known  telegrams  quoting  the  speech  of  Wilhelm  to 
his  guards  when  they  were  being  sent  to  the  Russian  front. 

On  this  day  the  bourgeoisie,  feeling  itself  on  top, 
does  not  refrain  from  rough  treatment  of  proleta- 
rian demonstrators.    Izvestia  says : 

Yesterday  a  crowd  of  about  ten  thousand  people  of  the 
First  City  District  of  the  Russian  Social-Democratic 
Labor  Party,  consisting  of  the  workers  from  the  plant  of 
the  Society  of  Carved  Articles,  the  New  Cotton-Mill,  the 
tobacco  factory  of  Kolobov  &  Bobrov,  the  print  shop 
Kopeika,  the  print  shop  of  Gershuni,  and  the  cotton-mill 
Kozhevnikov,  at  5:30  in  the  afternoon  went  to  the  Naval 
Academy,  where  the  Society  of  Workers'  and  Soldiers' 
Delegates  was  meeting,  to  express  solidarity  with  it  and  to 
support  it.  This  demonstration  carried  banners:  "Full 
Confidence  in  the  Soviet  of  Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Dele- 
gates," "Down  wuth  Imperialism,"  "Long  Live  Socialism," 
and  "All  Power  to  the  Soviet  of  Workers'  and  Soldiers' 
Delegates." 

On  Znamensky  Square  the  demonstration  was  stopped 
by  two  automobile  trucks  which  bore  the  inscription  "Long 
Live  the  Provisional  Government."  The  occupants  of 
these  trucks  demanded  that  the  militia  (city  police)  should 
not  participate  in  the  demonstration.  The  militia  then 
left  the  demonstration,  but  the  demonstration  was  broken 


126    THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

up   as  the  automobiles,  after  permitting  a  part  of  it  to 
pass,  did  not  let  the  other  part  do  so. 

The  demonstration  from  the  Rozhdestvensky  district, 
which  also  came  to  Znamensky  Square,  and  which  consisted 
almost  entirely  of  women  and  in  which  the  militia  did  not 
participate,  was  stopped  by  automobile  trucks  which  bore 
the  same  inscription.  The  banners  of  the  paraders  from 
the  Rozhdestvensky  district  were  taken  away  by  the  occu- 
pants of  the  automobiles  and  torn  by  the  public. 

On  Nevsky,  from  the  demonstrations  which  carried  the 
banners:  'Full  Confidence  in  the  Provisional  Government," 
"Down  with  Lenin,  the  Hireling  of  the  Kaiser,"  "Long 
Live  ]\Iiliukov,"  began  to  be  heard  cries  that  the  Soviet 
of  Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Delegates  should  not  be  sup- 
ported, and  soon  the  participants  of  these  demonstrations  re- 
sorted to  violence.  The  part  of  the  public  on  Nevsky,  while 
crying  out  "Provocateurs!"  and  "On  German  Money," 
destroyed  the  banners  that  bore  the  inscription  ' '  Long  Live 
the  International  Unity  of  Workers,"  which  was  carried 
by  the  women  workers  of  the  cotton-mill.  The  women  were 
dispersed  and  some  of  them  were  beaten  with  sticks.  On 
Moika  another  encounter  took  place  with  an  automobile 
in  which  were  university  and  high  school  students.  The 
automobiles  rode  into  the  demonstration  and  its  occupants 
destroyed  many  banners.  Students  of  the  Military  Medi- 
cal Academy  and  of  the  Institute  of  Ways  of  Communica- 
tion, crying  out  "Provocateurs!"  "Leninites!"  attempted 
to  take  the  banners  away  from  the  women.  The  arrival  of 
the  member  of  the  executive  committee  Skobelev  created 
some  order. 

There  are  many  protests  against  the  violence 
shown  demonstrating  workers.  Thus  one  letter  to 
Izvestia  reads: 

On  May  4th,  a  group  of  four  thousand  comrades,  in- 


THE  MAY  CRISIS  127 

eluding  myself,  which  came  from  the  following  factories: 
Russo-Baltic,  Optical,  and  the  Nevsky  Yarn  Mill,  decided 
to  hold  a  strictly  peaceful  demonstration  for  the  expression 
of  protest  regarding  the  historic  counter-revolutionary 
note  of  the  Provisional  Government.  We  went  through 
Nevsky  to  the  Nikolai  Naval  Academy,  where  the  Soviet  of 
Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Delegates  was  meeting.  We  all  re- 
solved to  go  out  on  the  streets  unarmed  and,  in  case  of 
meeting  hostile  paraders,  to  remain  absolutely  calm  and  not 
to  allow  any  excesses  on  our  part. 

We  came  out  from  Novgorodskaya  Street  with  two  ban- 
ners: "Down  with  the  Provisional  Government,"  and  "All 
Power  to  the  Soviet  of  Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Delegates," 
together  with  the  Second  Rozhdestvensky  District,  and  the 
Petersburg  Committee  of  the  Russian  Social-Democratic 
Labor  Party.  We  quietly  marched  to  Pushkinskaya 
Street,  where  we  encountered  three  automobile  trucks  filled 
with  invalids,  soldiers,  officers,  volunteer  soldiers,  university 
and  high  school  students,  and  bourgeois  young  ladies. 
They  had  placards  reading:  "Long  Live  the  Provisional 
Government,"  "Down  with  Lenin,"  "Lenin  &  Company 
back  to  Germany,"  etc.  Generally  speaking,  they  had 
everything  that  they  ought  to  have.  The  automobile  trucks 
of  our  opponents,  upon  seeing  us,  blocked  our  way  at 
once.  Our  protests  that  we  had  just  as  much  right  as 
they  to  parade  peacefully,  that  they  were  committing  vio- 
lence, that  they  were  violating  the  freedom  which  was 
achieved  by  us,  remained  fruitless.  Our  orderliness  and 
calmness  infuriated  our  opponents  and  they  turned  from 
words  to  actions :  forcing  our  front  ranks,  they  furiously  at- 
tacked our  banners,  mounted  riders  [probably  military] 
rode  down  upon  us,  from  all  sides,  and  finally  attained  a 
victory  after  a  stubborn  struggle  of  our  standard-bearers, 
and  the  waving  banners  were  torn  into  bits  by  them  in  a 
blind  fury. 

Member  of  the  Committee  of  the  Rozhdest- 


128     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

veusky  Distriel   of  the  Russian  Social-Demo- 
cratic Labor  Party. 

Another  witness  avers: 

At  3  :20  a  group  of  about  a  thousand  workingmen  was 
parading  on  Nevsky  in  the  direction  of  the  Admiralty. 
They  carried  banners  with  the  inscriptions:  "Down  with 
the  Provisional  Government,"  "Down  with  War,"  "Long 
Live  the  Soviet  of  Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Deputies." 
Near  the  Ekaterina  Canal  the  paraders  (part  of  whom  were 
armed)  were  intersected  by  a  small  group  consisting  mostly 
of  officers,  university  and  high  school  students,  "ladies' 
hats,"  and  "derbies."  The  latter  group  ran  to  the  work- 
iiigmen  and  began  taking  away  their  banners  and  arras, 
and  one  officer  in  a  light  gray  overcoat  pulled  out  his 
saber  and  attacked  the  workingmen.  He  slashed  the  head 
of  one.  The  workingman  fell  to  the  ground  and  remained 
in  this  position  for  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  until  he  was 
picked  up  and  taken  into  the  hallway  of  the  house  where  the 
Uchetny  Bank  is  located.  Another  officer,  an  ensign,  in  a 
soldier's  overcoat,  also  violently  attacked  the  workingmen, 
took  away  their  arms,  and  led  his  followers  in  seeking 
those  workingmen  who  had  run  away  and  were  hiding 
in  courtyards,  stores,  and  on  the  steps  of  the  Catholic 
Church. 

Shots  were  fired  at  workingmen  by  the  partisans  of  the 
Provisional  Government.  I  do  not  know  whether  any 
workingmen  were  killed  by  these  shots,  but  I  do  know  that 
I  have  seen  five  of  them  lying  on  the  car  tracks  and  in  the 
gutter. 

I  confirm  that  there  were  no  shots  fired  by  workingmen, 
but  there  was  a  struggle  for  the  banners  and  for  arms. 
When  the  paraders  were  dispersed  the  zealous  partisans  of 
the  Provisional  Government  quickly  disappeared. 


>. 


u 


THE  MAY  CRISIS  129 

The  previous  day  the  Soviet  issued  an  appeal  to 
the  people  to  be  calm  and  self-restrained.  To-day 
it  sends  its  representatives  in  pairs,  one  worker  and 
one  soldier,  to  the  workingmen  's  districts  and  to  the 
barracks.  While  traversing  the  streets  surging  with 
humanity  these  representatives  often  say:  ''Com- 
rades, we  know  that  you  are  ready  to  support  us  in 
the  struggle.  We  know  that  you  are  one  with  us. 
We  know  this  without  any  demonstrations.  We 
knew  it  before  you  came  out  in  the  streets."  At- 
tempts are  made  to  bring  the  soldiers  out  on  the 
streets,  to  bring  out  to  the  squares  armored  auto- 
mobiles with  machine-guns,  but  the  executive  com- 
mittee sends  out  word  that  every  order  to  a  military 
unit  to  come  out  in  the  street  must  be  issued  on  the 
stationery  of  the  executive  committee,  must  bear 
its  seal,  and  must  bo  signed  by  at  least  two  of 
seven  named  persons.  Late  in  the  evening  of  May 
4th  the  Soviet  strives  to  avert  anarchy  by  issuing 
an  order  absolutely  prohibiting  street  meetings  and 
demonstrations  for  two  days.  The  Cadet  party 
acquiesces  and  withdraws  a  call  for  further  demon- 
stration on  behalf  of  the  Provisional  Government 
which  it  intended  should  appear  in  the  newspapers 
of  May  5th. 

In  view  of  the  allegations  of  bourgeois  historians 
that  the  hand  of  Lenin  is  visible  in  the  anti-war  dem- 
onstrations of  May  3d  and  4th  it  is  significant  that 
none  of  the  Cadet  newspapers  make  any  such  in- 
sinuation at  the  time  and  that  the  central  committee 
of  the  Social-Democratic  Labor  (Bolshevik)  party 
resolves  that  ''during  such  a  time  any  idea  of  civil 
war  is  senseless  and  wild"  and  calls  upon  members 


130    THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

of  the  party  to  observe  strictly  the  order  of  the 
Soviet  forbidding  street  meetings  and  demonstra- 
tions for  two  days. 

About  five  o'clock  of  this  eventful  day  the  exec- 
utive committee  receives  the  explanatory  declara- 
tion which  the  Government  had  agreed  to  prepare. 
Under  the  influence  of  menacing  events  the  Govern- 
ment has  gone  farther  than  it  had  promised.  It 
withdraws  the  phrase  "decisive  victory"  save  in  the 
sense  of  the  declaration  of  April  9th  and  explains 
that  "by  guarantees  and  sanctions"  of  enduring 
peace  the  Government  has  in  view  '  *  the  reduction  of 
armaments,  the  establishment  of  international 
tribunals,  etc."  This  explanation  is  to  be  communi- 
cated to  the  ambassadors  of  the  Allied  powders. 

By  a  vote  of  34  to  19  the  executive  committee 
(which  has  been  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  repre- 
sentatives of  other  Soviets  so  that  it  no  longer  speaks 
for  Petrograd  alone)  approves  the  explanatory 
note  and  recommends  it  to  the  plenary  meeting  of 
the  Petrograd  Soviet  which  occurs  this  evening.  In 
this  meeting  Tseretelli,  the  Menshevik  Prince  from 
the  Caucasus,  ex-member  of  the  Second  Duma,  who 
has  spent  ten  years  in  Siberia,  urges  that  the  Soviet 
support  the  Provisional  Government  in  every  pos- 
sible way.  Kemenev,  a  Bolshevik,  opposes  the 
resolution  on  the  ground  that  there  is  no  reason 
whatever  to  trust  the  Provisional  Government.  He 
proposes  the  formation  of  a  purely  Socialist  govern- 
ment. 

On  behalf  of  the  Bolsheviks  Madame  Kolontai  of- 
fers this  resolution : 

In  order  to  ascertain  the  will  of  the  majority  of  the  popu- 


THE  MAY  CRISIS  131 

lation  of  Petrograd,  it  is  necessary  to  take  at  once  a  vote  of 
the  people  in  all  districts  of  Petrograd  and  vicinity  regard- 
ing the  question  of  its  attitude  to  the  note  of  the  govern- 
ment, regarding  the  support  of  the  policy  of  any  of  the 
parties,  and  the  kind  of  provisional  government  that  is 
desirable.  All  the  party  agitators,  and  factories,  regiments 
on  the  streets,  etc.,  must  advocate  these  views  and  this 
proposition  by  peaceful  discussion  and  peaceful  demon- 
strations and  meetings. 

She  insists  that  it  is  idle  to  expect  from  this  bour- 
geois government  a  faithful  carrying  out  of  the 
wishes  of  the  democracy. 

After  extended  debate  the  Soviet  accepts  with 
only  thirteen  negative  votes  the  recommendation  of 
its  executive  committee. 

Thus  the  note  incident  is  closed,  but  its  effects  are 
far-reaching.  The  contrast  in  attitude  toward  peace 
between  the  small  comfortably-off  classes  and  the 
huge  undernourished,  decimated,  suffering,  de- 
spairing masses  has  been  staged  for  all  to  see.  The 
issue  being  joined  between  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment and  the  Soviet,  the  bourgeoisie  has  rallied 
round  the  Provisional  Government,  while  the  democ- 
racy has  rallied  round  the  Soviet.  The  working 
nine-tenths  of  the  people  will  mark  and  inwardly 
digest  the  signiticance  of  the  fact  that  the  bour- 
geois tenth  regards  the  Provisional  Government  as 
their  government.  The  specter  of  civil  war  which 
for  two  days  hovered  over  the  capital  vanishes  for 
a  season,  but  it  will  return. 

The  fact  that  during  the  crisis  it  was  the  Soviet 
rather  than  the  Provisional  Government  that  got  it- 
self obeyed  by  the  soldiers  and  the  masses  convinces 
the  best  men  on  both  sides  that  something  must  be 


132     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

done  to  strengthen  the  Provisional  Government  with 
the  working  people  and  insure  future  harmony  be- 
tween the  two  bodies  which  between  them  wield  what 
authority  remains  in  Russia.  On  May  9th  Prince 
Lvov  sends  the  Soviet  a  formal  invitation  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  formation  of  a  coalition  government. 
At  first  the  Soviet  leaders  decline,  preferring  to  be 
free  to  play  their  own  hand,  to  have  real  power  but 
without  responsibility.  If  they  take  hold  and  Rus- 
sia goes  to  ruin  in  their  charge,  their  party  will  be 
discredited  forever.  But  the  sky  darkens.  Guch- 
kov  resigns,  declaring  himself  unable  longer  *'to 
share  responsibility  for  the  grievous  sin  that  is  be- 
ing committed  against  our  fatherland."  He  has 
been  confronted  with  a  declaration  of  '^ soldiers' 
rights"  which  he  would  not  sanction  with  his  sig- 
nature. 

At  a  conference  of  delegates  from  the  Govern- 
ment Kerensky  declares: 

If  we  are  to  save  the  country,  things  cannot  continue  on 
their  present  course.  It  may  be  the  time  is  near  when  we 
must  tell  you  that  we  cannot  give  you  bread  in  the  quan- 
tity you  expect,  or  maintain  the  supplies  of  ammunition 
on  which  you  have  a  right  to  count.  My  strength  is  fail- 
ing, because  I  no  longer  have  my  old  confidence  that  we 
have  before  us,  not  revolting  slaves,  but  conscious  citizens, 
creating  a  new  state  with  an  enthusiasm  worthy  of  the 
Russian  nation.  Alas  that  I  did  not  die  two  months  ago, 
for  then  I  should  have  died  in  the  splendid  dream  that 
once  and  for  all  a  new  life  had  dawned  for  Russia!  If  the 
tragedy  and  disorder  of  the  situation  are  not  at  once  recog- 
nized, if  it  is  not  understood  that  now  responsibility  lies 
on  all,  if  our  state  organism  cannot  be  made  to  act  as 
smoothly   as  a   well-oiled   machine,   then  all   our   dreams, 


THE  MAY  CRISIS  133 

all  our  aspirations,  will  be  thrown  back  for  years,  and  per- 
haps will  be  drowned  in  blood.^ 

Such  considerations  induce  the  executive  commit- 
tee to  relent  and  appoint  a  deputation  to  confer 
with  the  Cabinet  on  the  subject.  They  insist  on  a 
new  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  so  Miliukov  leaves 
the  Cabinet,  declining  to  take  any  other  portfolio. 
Tereshchenko  takes  his  place  and  five  representa- 
tives of  the  Soviet  are  introduced  into  the  Cabinet, 
viz.,  Tchernov,  Skobelev,  Tseretelli,  Peshekhanov, 
and  Pereverzev.  The  Provisional  Government,' 
while  rejecting  all  thought  of  a  separate  peace,  ''sets 
itself  as  its  aim  the  speediest  possible  attainment  of 
a  general  peace,  having  as  its  object  neither  the  tak- 
ing from  others  of  their  national  possessions,  nor 
the  forcible  seizure  of  foreign  territories — a  peace 
without  annexations  or  indemnities  on  the  principle 
of  the  self-determination  of  nationalities." 

It  is  furthermore  agreed  that  the  new  socialist 
ministers  are  to  join  the  Cabinet  as  representatives 
of  the  Soviet,  shall  be  responsible  to  it,  and  shall 
periodically  report  to  it.  The  Soviet  issues  a  pro- 
clamation expressing  ''full  confidence"  in  the  new 
Government  and  commending  it  to  the  nation.     So 

1  Wilcox,  Russia's  Ruin,  p.   182. 

2  The  names  of  the  members  of  the  new  Cabinet  are:  (1)  Premier 
and  Minister  of  the  Interior,  Prince  Lvov,  (2)  Minister  of  Labor, 
Skobelev  (S.  D.)  ;  (3)  Minister  of  Justice,  Pereverzev  (S.  R.)  ;  (4) 
Agriculture,  Tchernov  (S.  R.)  ;  (5)  Supplies,  Peshekhonov  ( Pop- 
Soc.)  ;  (fi)  War  and  Marine,  Kerensky  (S.  R.)  ;  (7)  Social  Assist- 
ance, Prince  Shakhovskoy  (Cadet)  ;   (8)  Finance,  Shingarev  (Cadet)  ; 

(9)  Posts  and  Telegraphs,  Tseretelli  (S.  D. )  ;  (1)  Commerce  and 
Industry,  Konovalov  (Progressist);  (11)  Foreign  Affairs,  Teresh- 
chenko (non-party):  (12)  Railways  and  Communications,  Nekrassov 
(Cadet);  (13)  State-Controller,  Godnev  (Oct.):  (14)  Education, 
Manuilov    (Cadet);    (14)   Synod,  Lvov    (Oct.). 


134    THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

with  its  six  Socialists  to  ten  bourgeois  Liberals  the 
Ministry  starts  off  with  renewed  vigor;  but  every 
day  from  a  thousand  street  corners  and  soap-boxes 
spreads  the  idea  ''All  power  to  the  Soviets!" 


CHAPTER  XIII 
THE  REVOLUTION  AND  LABOR 

IN  the  brief  ''honeymoon"  period  following  the 
March  Revolution  the  putting  forward  of  eco- 
nomic demands  was  scarcely  thought  of.  A  Belgian 
employer  at  once  assembled  his  working  force  to 
propose  to  them  that  a  common  agreement  on  cer- 
tain points  should  be  drawm  up  on  the  basis  of  which 
they  would  eventually  proceed  to  a  revision  of  the 
scale  of  wages  which  the  high  cost  of  living  had  ren- 
dered necessary.  But  his  workers  stopped  him  be- 
fore he  was  well  under  way  with  his  speech,  protest- 
ing that  there  could  be  no  question  of  discussing  such 
a  matter;  since  the  Revolution  all  were  brothers,  and 
they  only  asked  leave  to  do  for  their  brother  what 
they  had  heretofore  done  for  their  employer.^  It 
did  not  take  the  Russian  workmen  long,  however,  to 
arrive  at  a  less  idyllic  conception  of  the  social  ques- 
tion. 

With  the  prices  of  the  necessaries  of  life  mounting 
by  leaps  and  bounds  in  response  to  the  constantly 
augmenting  issues  of  paper  money  found  necessary 
for  financing  the  new  regime,  it  was  inevitable  that 
wage  scales  should  frequently  be  revised  upward; 
and,  once  the  wage-earners  realized  that  no  longer 
were  the  police  there  to  protect  the  employer  from 
their  strikes  and  threats  of  personal  violence,  they 

1  Vandervelde,  Three  Aspects  of  the  Russian  Revolution     p.  41. 

135 


136     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

sometimes  forced  their  wages  up  faster  even  than 
the  cost  of  living  rose. 

Their  compunction  was  the  less  from  the  fact  that, 
thanks  to  free  speech  and  a  free  press,  they  soon  be- 
gan to  be  acquainted  with  the  figures  of  the  extraor- 
dinary profits  many  of  the  employers  had  been 
reaping.  Mrs.  Williams,  who  writes  from  the  Cadet 
point  of  view,  says : 

The  extravagant  economic  demands  of  the  miners  were 
to  a  great  extent  justified  by  the  fact  that,  during  the  war, 
the  mine-owners  had  been  specially  bare-faced  in  their  ex- 
ploitation of  this  laborious  kind  of  work,  taking  advantage 
of  the  workmen  being  unable  to  leave.  The  shareholders 
got  enormous  dividends  (up  to  200  per  cent.),  while  wages 
were  raised  at  a  most  parsimonious  rate.^ 

After  obser\dng  that  the  hundred-ruble  shares  of 
industrial  companies  were  quoted  at  300,  400,  and 
even  up  to  1,000  rubles,  indicating  an  expected  yearly 
return  of  18,  24  and,  in  cases,  up  to  60  per  cent.,  I 
finally  put  this  question  on  five  occasions  to  Ameri- 
can business  men  with  long  experience  in  Russia: 
"Do  you  think  that  under  the  old  regime  twenty  per 
cent,  per  annum  was  as  common  a  rate  of  return  to 
Russian  factory  capital  as  ten  per  cent,  is  in  Amer- 
ica?"   In  every  instance  the  answer  was  *'Yes." 

From  time  to  time  in  the  Russian  newspapers  of 
the  spring  of  1917  appear  financial  statements  of 
various  banks  and  industrial  enterprises,  showing 
their  profits  for  1916.  From  these  one  can  forai  a 
notion  of  how  the  Russian  factory  worker  will  re- 
spond, once  the  agitators  have  fixed  in  his  mind  the 

1  From  Liberty  to  Brest-TMovsk,  p.  229. 


THE  REVOLUTION  AND  LABOR  137 

idea  that  his  employer  ''exploits"  him.  Here  are 
some  of  the  concerns  with  their  profits  for  1916.  I 
cannot  say  how  typical  they  are. 

Per  cent, 
of 
Capital  Net  Profits    annual 

in  Rubles         in  Rubles      profit 

United  Cable  Factories 6,000,000  10,299,038  170 

Skapshal  Bros.  Tobacco  Co 2,400,000  510,175  21 

T.  M.  Aivaz  Machine  Construction  .  .  .  4,000,000  4,670,534  117 

Russian  General  Elec.  Co 12,000,000  2,807,837  23 

Kolumna  Co.  Machine  Construction  .  .  15,000,000  7,482,832  50 

A.  S.  Lavrov   (Gatchina  factory)    500,000  176,741  35 

Petrovsk  Cotton  &  Textile  Mfg.  Co.  .  .  1,200,000  679,719  57 

Stodol  Woolen  Co.  of  Barishnikov  Sons  3,500,000  1,849,735  53 

Emil  Zindcl  Mfg.  Co 9,000,000  2,962,551  33 

S.  I.  Chepelev  Sons,  Perfumery  Co.  ...  800,000  455,917  57 

While  foraging  in  these  financial  columns  one  may 
as  well  cite  some  figures  throwing  light  on  the  earn- 
ings of  Russian  banking  capital: 

Per  cent, 
of 
Capital  Net  Profits      annual 

in  Rubles         in  Rubles         profit 
Russo-French    Com.    Bank    Petrograd 

Branch    18,000,000       4,296,216       24 

Azov-Don  Commercial  Bank 60,000,000     19,256,930       32 

Russian  Com"]  &  Ind.  Bank   35,000,000     13,328,063       38 

Petrograd  Uchetrin  &  Ssudrin  Bank  .  .    :]0,000,000     12,963,275       43 

Russian  Bank  for  Foreign  Trade 60,000,000     18,187,089       30 

Nijni-Novgorod-Samara  Land  Bank  .  .      9,010,500       1,712,133       19 

Even  without  the  ruble's  loss  of  purchasing  power 
a  general  increase  of  wages  was  an  altogether 
proper  consequence  of  the  Revolution,  for  it  was  im- 
possible that  free  men  should  consent  to  be  paid  such 
a  pittance  as  the  majorit}^  of  the  Russian  workers 
had  received.  The  manufacturers  quickly  realized 
their  changed  plight  and  offered  little  resistance  to 
the  doubling  or  trebling  of  wages.  Here  and  there, 
however,  the  workers  pushed  up  their  pay  to  a  pre- 
posterous figure.     Day-laborers  employed  in  peat- 


138    THE  KUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

cutting  in  a  certain  district  demanded  a  thousand 
rubles  per  month.  The  loaders  at  Tsaritzuin  on  the 
lower  Volga  forced  up  their  pay  to  thirty-three 
rubles  for  a  six-hour  day!  The  workers  in  one  con- 
cern employing  five  thousand  hands  concluded  that, 
as  they  were  earning  eight  rubles  a  day  more  than 
before  the  Revolution,  they  had  long  been  done  out 
of  this  sum  by  their  employers ;  so  they  claimed  for 
each  man  eight  rubles  a  day  back  pay  for  the  last 
three  years, — in  all  a  bagatelle  of  thirty-six  million 
rubles !  Their  delegation  brought  thirteen  sacks  in 
which  to  take  awaj^  the  money,  put  the  staff  of  the 
concern  under  guard  in  the  offices,  and  left  mth  the 
avowed  intention  of  returning  next  day  to  get  the 
money  or  else  tie  up  the  members  of  the  stalT  in  the 
sacks  and  throw  them  into  the  Neva.  Word  was 
gotten  to  the  Minister  of  Labor,  who  brought  the 
men  to  see  the  absurdity  of  their  demands  and  the 
impropriety  of  their  methods.  They  withdrew  their 
claim  and  released  the  staff  and  the  factory  went  on 
as  before,  the  cordial  relationship  between  the  man- 
agement and  workmen  not  having  suffered  in  the 
least! 

Yet  in  a  factory  near  Nijni  Novgorod  as  late  as 
April  women  and  children  worked  twelve  hours  for 
from  20  to  90  kopeks  a  day.  In  September  I  found 
women  in  a  soap-factory  in  Kazan  earning  only 
2Vj  rubles  daily,  with,  however,  the  privilege  of  buy- 
ing bread  at  the  old  price.  A  big  oil  man  in  Baku 
confessed  to  me  that,  although  the  wages  of  the 
seventy  thousand  laborers  in  the  Baku  oil  industry 
had  gone  up  460%  since  the  outbreak  of  the  war, 
the  rise  in  the  cost  of  living  had  been  still  greater. 


THE  REVOLUTION  AND  LABOR  139 

In  Sormova  the  work  people  declared  to  me  that 
they  were  not  living  so  well  as  they  had  hved  six 
months  earlier. 

However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  a  decline  in 
productivity  per  man  set  in  very  soon  after  the 
Eevolution  and  presently  reached  a  truly  calamitous 
fig-ure.  Having  chased  off  the  scene  the  heavy- 
handed  foreman  who  had  been  wont  to  bully  and 
drive  them,  the  workers  were  a  little  disposed  to 
behave  like  the  pupils  of  a  martinet  teacher  when 
that  teacher  is  out  of  the  school  room.  Generally 
time  wages  were  substituted  for  piece  wages  and 
the  employees  were  not  overscrupulous  in  their  use 
of  the  time  the  employer  had  paid  for.  Not  only 
was  labor  interspersed  with  tea-drinking,  smoking, 
chatting,  and  talking  politics,  but,  whenever  the  men 
felt  like  it,  they  held  a  meeting  at  the  employer's 
expense.  The  boss  who  interfered  was  likely  to  be 
ridden  out'  of  the  works  in  a  wheelbarrow.  Within 
a  fortnight  after  the  Revolution  the  Petrograd 
Association  of  Manufacturers  declared  that  the 
workers  presented  demands  which  could  not  be  sat- 
isfied, violence  was  often  resorted  to,  and  produc- 
tion was  disorganized,  as  a  result  of  which  the  pro- 
ductivity of  the  factories  had  fallen  to  a  low  figure. 
It  therefore  was  resolved  to  appeal  to  the  Soviet  of 
Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Delegates,  pointing  out  the 
urgent  necessity  of  taking  immediate  measures  to 
reestablish  normal  fife  in  the  factories,  and  in  par- 
ticular the  necessity  of  having  the  representatives 
of  the  Soviet  visit  the  factories  periodically  in  order 
to  impress  upon  the  workers  the  impossibility  of 
such  a  state  of  affairs. 


140     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

Before  the  Seventh  Convention  of  the  Cadet 
party  on  May  25th  Kutler,  solicitor  of  the  coal-mine 
operators  of  the  Donetz  Basin,  declared: 

In  the  great  majority  of  industrial  enterprises  there  is 
a  sharp  fall  in  production.  This  fall  is  sometimes  ex- 
pressed by  20,  30,  and  40  per  cent.  There  are  very  often 
cases  in  Petrograd  where  the  industrial  enterprises  produce 
only  40  or  even  30  per  cent,  of  their  former  production. 
In  individual  cases  this  fall  in  production  is  expressed  in 
still  higher  figures.  I  may  point  to  one  factory  which  at 
the  present  time  produces  10  per  cent,  of  its  former 
products,  using  the  same  number  of  workers. 

More  impartial,  no  doubt,  is  the  report  made  to 
the  combined  executive  committees  of  the  Soviets  by 
Cherevanin  on  August  1st: 

If  we  look  at  figures  we  see  the  following  situation.  In 
the  south  of  Russia  out  of  64  blast  furnaces  only  42  are 
working,  producing  only  75  per  cent,  of  their 'normal  out- 
put. Out  of  98  Martin's  furnaces  only  67  are  working, 
also  producing  75  per  cent.  The  June  program  was 
executed  only  to  the  extent  of  65  per  cent,  while  in  July 
still  less  will  be  done.  In  the  Central  district  the  situa- 
tion is  not  any  better. 

Before  the  Moscow  Conference  near  the  end  of 
August  General  Kornilov  stated  that  the  output  of 
the  gun  plants  and  the  shell  plants  had  declined  60 
per  cent,  as  compared  with  the  last  three  months  of 
the  old  regime,  while  that  of  the  aeroplane  factories 
had  fallen  off  80  per  cent. 

In  August  and  September  the  most  frequent  esti- 
mate of  the  loss  of  productivity  given  me  was  50 
per  cent.     In  Saratov  a  labor  leader  estimated  pro- 


THE  REVOLUTION  AND  LABOR  141 

ductivity  as  60  or  70  below  normal  and  still  declin- 
ing. Coal-miners  in  the  Donetz  basin  were  36  per 
cent,  less  effective  than  they  were  a  year  earlier. 
The  best  showing  was  that  of  an  American  company 
near  Moscow  which  followed  American  ideals  in 
handling  its  men  and  by  December  had  brought  pro- 
duction up  to  70  per  cent,  of  the  old  figure. 

Labor  leaders  admitted  the  slump,  but  insisted 
that  labor  should  not  bear  all  the  blame.  Part  of 
it  was  due  to  the  deterioration  of  machinery  (there 
being  great  difficulty  in  replacement)  and  to  irreg- 
ularity in  the  supply  of  raw  materials.  So  far  as 
the  men  were  responsible  for  it,  they  looked  upon 
it  as  only  a  natural  reaction  from  the  forced  pace 
at  which  they  formerly  Avorked. 

Some  labor  men  think  that  employers  are  sabotag- 
ing industry  in  order  to  bring  about  a  situation  which 
would  favor  their  regaining  their  former  control. 
At  the  end  of  May  a  delegation  of  miners  from  the 
Donetz  region  point  out  that  all  repair  of  machines 
has  ceased.  No  supports  are  set  in  the  mines. 
Stocks  of  coal  and  coke  are  hidden  away.  Mines  are 
allowed  to  be  flooded.  Labor  leaders  suspect  that, 
under  plea  of  inability  to  obtain  sufficient  raw  ma- 
terial, some  manufacturers  are  trying  to  got  rid  of 
their  present  labor  force  in  order  to  build  up  a  new 
force  on  their  own  terms,  after  labor  has  experi- 
enced a  season  of  unemplojTuent.  They  dare  not 
reply  to  their  laborers'  demands  with  a  lock-out,  for 
then  their  factories  would  be  reopened  without  them, 
but  they  may  sabotage  their  production  with  im- 
punity.    The  Belgian  mission  observes : 

"There  are  employers  who,   instead  of  combating  dis- 


142     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

order  in  their  workshops,  leave  it  alone,  as  if  they  hoped 
that  extreme  disorder  in  production  would  achieve  their 
purpose  and  obtain  for  them  again  the  power  which  they 
have  lost. ' '  ^ 

I-  noticed  in  talking  over  the  situation  with  Rus- 
sian employers  that  they  were  more  philosophical 
and  less  exasperated  than  I  should  expect  American 
employers  to  be  in  like  circumstances.  Their  serene 
confidence  that  the  disease  'Svould  soon  run  its 
course"  may  have  been  based  upon  their  intention 
to  create  a  situation  which  would  "bring  labor  to 
its  senses." 

In  various  other  directions  labor  demonstrated 
its  new  control  over  conditions.  Within  four  months 
after  the  Revolution  the  eight-hour  working  day 
prevailed  nearly  everywhere  and  in  the  larger  cities 
office-workers  generally  got  their  day  down  to  six 
hours.  Even  the  servant  girls  caught  the  infection 
and  demanded  an  eight-hour  day  as  well  as  certain 
days  "off." 

The  employer  in  many  cases  lost  the  power  to 
"fire."  He  could  get  rid  of  an  undesired  working- 
man  only  wdth  the  consent  of  the  factory  committee. 
In  case,  owing  to  lack  of  raw  material,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  lay  off  some  workers  the  organized  em- 
ployees, not  the  employer,  decided  which  should  be 
dispensed  with.  Naturally  those  dismissed  were  the 
least  popular  rather  than  the  least  efficient. 

There  were  cases  in  which  labor  dictated  whom 
the  capitalist  should  employ.  Here,  for  example, 
are  some  of  the  terms  of  a  collective  agreement 
which  the  representatives  of  the  hundred  large  em- 

1  Vandervelde,  Three  Aspects  of  the  Russian  Revolution,  p.  100. 


THE  REVOLUTION  AND  LABOR  143 

ploying  oil  firms  at  Baku  felt  obliged  to  enter  into 
about  the  end  of  September.  The  spokesman  of 
the  employers  said: 

They  ask  that  we  grant  leave  on  pay  for  a  certain  period 
to  a  sick  employee.  Most  of  us  are  doing  that  already. 
They  stipulate  that  on  dismissal  an  employee  shall  receive  a 
month's  pay  for  every  year  he  has  been  in  our  service, 
Agreed.  They  demand  that  no  workman  be  dismissed 
without  the  consent  of  a  committee  representing  the  men. 
That  's  all  right.  They  require  that  we  take  on  new  men 
from  a  list  submitted  by  them.  That's  reasonable  enough. 
They  know  far  better  than  we  can  whether  or  not  a  fellow 
is  safe  to  work  alongside  of  in  a  dangerous  business  like 
ours.  But  when  they  demand  control  over  the  hiring  and 
firing  of  all  our  employees, — foremen,  superintendents,  and 
managers  as  well  as  workmen, — we  balk.  We  don't  see  how 
we  can  yield  that  point  without  losing  the  control  essen- 
tial to  discipline  and  efficiency.  Yet  if  we  don't  sign  to- 
night, they  threaten  to  strike. 

Dismissal  pay  was  another  conquest  the  revolu- 
tionary proletariat  were  beginning  to  make.  Under 
the  old  regime  the  Russian  employer  was  legally 
bound  to  pay  his  dismissed  employee  wages  for  two 
weeks  beyond  the  term  of  employment.  It  was  a 
sop  to  the  workingmen  to  make  up  to  them  for  not 
having  the  right  to  strike  and,  of  course,  it  was 
valueless  under  the  tsar.  After  the  Revolution, 
however,  there  was  an  endeavor  to  enforce  this  law 
and  to  give  the  dismissed  workman  a  legal  right  to 
a  month's  wages  instead  of  a  fortnight's.  In  a 
number  of  industries  the  month  of  leeway  was  estab- 
lished by  joint  agreement.  In  the  typographic  in- 
dustry masters  and  men  agreed  to  a  three-months' 


144     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

minimum  term  of  employment.  Some  groups  of 
workers  called  for  a  much  broader  margin  of  secur- 
ity. As  we  have  seen,  the  oil-men  demanded  and 
secured  a  month's  dismissal  pay  for  every  year  of 
service.  A  large  American  manufacturing  concern 
was  asked  by  its  men  to  pay  three  months'  dismissal 
wages  for  every  year  of  service.  On  the  break-up 
of  the  oflSce  force  of  a  certain  Ajnerican  life  insur- 
ance company,  the  men  put  in  a  claim  for  six  months ' 
pay  all  around. 

Other  benefits  some  groups  of  workers  gained 
were :  a  fixed  annual  vacation  of  two  to  four  weeks 
with  pay,  free  medical  and  hospital  treatment  not 
only  for  injuries  and  maladies  arising  out  of  the 
work,  but  for  all  illness  of  the  employee  or  of  his 
family;  and  the  continuance  of  wages  for  an  in- 
valid employee,  even  if  his  incapacitation  in  no  way 
arose  out  of  the  industry.  Of  course  all  these  con- 
quests have  disappeared  in  a  new  regime  that  has  no 
place  for  the  employing  capitalist. 


o  ■$ 


<  I 


im  K  .1 


CHAPTER  XIV 
THE  DECOMPOSITION  OP  THE  ARMY 

TIE  demoralization,  break-up,  and  final  melt- 
ing away  of  the  enormous  Russian  Army — all 
within  the  space  of  nine  or  ten  months — is  surely 
one  of  the  most  amazing  spectacles  history  offers. 
In  all  the  annals  of  wars  and  armies  there  is  noth- 
ing to  be  compared  with  it.  It  is  customary  to 
offer  for  the  phenomenon  a  very  simple  explanation, 
viz.,  vicious  propaganda,  whereas  it  was,  in  fact,  the 
outcome  of  the  operation  of  several  factors. 

Immediately  upon  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution 
a  cleavage  took  place  in  the  army  between  the  old- 
regime  officers  and  the  common  soldiers  and  sailors. 
Under  the  tsar  the  officers  of  the  army  were  drawn 
from  the  families  of  the  privileged  class.  The 
young  men  were  put  in  the  cadet  schools,  where  they 
were  subjected  to  a  very  elaborate  system  of  espion- 
age, and  then  finished  in  the  special  schools  of  the 
various  branches  of  the  army.  All  those  youths 
who  were  liberal  in  tendency  or  showed  an  unwhole- 
some sympathy  with  the  common  people  were  weeded 
out  and  sent  home.  It  was  the  "hard-boiled"  lads 
who  were  retained  and  given  commands.  They 
were  trained  in  a  brutal  discipline,  taught  to  serve 
the  tsar  rather  than  the  people,  and  expected  after 
their  period  of  service,  provided  that  their  service 
was  found  competent,  to  retire  to  Petrograd  or  Mos- 

145 


146     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

cow  and  there  pass  the  rest  of  their  lives  at  ease 
and  in  the  most  delightful  social  enjoyment. 

How  could  the  common  soldiers  believe  that  such 
officers  in  their  hearts  wished  well  to  the  Revolu- 
tion? Colonel  Robins,  of  the  American  Red  Cross, 
who  spoke  for  the  Allied  cause  before  many  units  in 
the  different  arms  of  the  Russian  service  during  the 
autumn  of  1917,  found  in  one  barracks  a  general  in 
command  of  six  regiments  of  the  general's  division, 
the  rest  being  on  the  front.  The  general  was  a 
count  and  something  like  80  per  cent,  of  the  soldiers 
in  the  six  regiments  were  from  the  villages  of  his 
estate.  If  the  purposes  of  the  Revolution  were  ac- 
complished, this  general  would  lose  the  things  for 
which  he  had  been  educated  to  fight,  and  he  would 
lose  not  only  them,  but  also  his  title,  his  lands,  and 
his  power!  If  the  Revolution  were  a  success,  these 
common  soldiers  would  get  the  land  of  the  estate 
belonging  to  their  commanding  general.  How  could 
there  be  any  moral  unity  between  such  commanding 
officers  and  such  soldiers? 

One  would  err  in  supposing  that  the  Revolution 
at  first  grated  harshly  upon  the  inbred  .loyalties  of 
the  officers  of  aristocratic  origin,  but  that,  as  time 
went  on,  such  officers  became  more  reconciled  to  the 
new  order.  It  is  probable  that  the  current  of  tend- 
ency ran  just  the  other  way.  No  doubt  more  officers 
were  friendly  to  the  Revolution  in  April,  when  one 
could  look  forward  to  a  liberal  or  bourgeois  govern- 
ment, than  in  September,  by  which  time  it  had  be- 
come clear  that  the  Soviets,  reflecting  the  will  of  the 
common  people,  had  the  whip  hand  and  intended  to 
effect  vast  changes  in   the  distribution   of  wealth 


THE  DECOMPOSITION  OF  THE  ARMY       147 

and  the  position  of  the  propertied.  Broad-minded, 
indeed,  must  be  that  oflScer  of  pomieshtchik  affilia- 
tion who  kept  his  early  enthusiasm  for  the  Revolu- 
tion after  it  had  become  apparent  that  it  would  cer- 
tainly beggar  him! 

Another  factor  explaining  the  crumbling  away  of 
Russia's  military  power  was  the  wide  diffusion  of 
the  ''defeatist"  doctrine.  This  doctrine  had  two 
aspects.  One  was  the  conviction,  widely  held  by 
revolutionary  workers  and  peasants  and  the  general 
revolutionary  leadership,  that  until  the  autocracy 
had  been  defeated  in  some  foreign  war  it  could  not 
be  overthrown  in  Russia;  and  that  therefore  every 
lover  of  his  people,  no  matter  how  generally  patri- 
otic, ought  to  wish  for  the  defeat  of  the  tsar's 
armies.  This  defeatist  doctrine  was  supplemented 
by  a  doctrine  of  defeatism  that  was  philosophical 
and  semi-religious.  We  see  it  in  the  non-resistance 
teaching  of  Tolstoy,  the  idea  that  the  use  of  force 
is  anti-Christian  and  always  results  in  injury  to  the 
simple  people  of  the  land.  Owing  to  the  lodgment 
of  these  doctrines  in  the  minds  of  a  great  many 
Russians  the  Russian  people  never  developed  so 
strong  and  general  a  will-to-win-the-war  as  most  of 
the  other  belligerent  peoples. 

Another  element  in  the  disintegration  of  the  Rus- 
sian army,  and  of  the  Russian  state  inasmuch  as  an 
effective  army  is  indispensable  to  the  maintenance 
of  such  a  state,  was  the  widespread  opinion  that  the 
war  was  the  tsar's  war,  undertaken  for  imperialistic 
purposes.  In  the  general  revolutionary  mind  the 
w^ar  was  cursed  as  the  tsar's  imperialistic  war  for 
the  purpose  of  obtaining  the  Straits  of  the  Dardan- 


148      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

elles  and  putting  the  Greek  cross  above  Santa  Sophia 
in  Constantinople. 

I  have  already  shown  how  Army  Order  No.  1,  is- 
sued not  by  the  Provisional  Government  but  by  the 
Soviet,  and  intended  not  for  the  entire  army  but  for 
the  Petrograd  garrison,  was  distributed  all  along 
the  front  and  resulted  in  every  unit  forming  its 
committee.^ 

Within  a  week  Guchkov,  Minister  of  War,  issued 
an  order  directing  that  in  place  of  titles  such  forms 
of  address  be  used  as  "Mr.  General, '^  "Mr.  Cap- 
tain," etc.,  that  soldiers  be  addressed  as  "you"  in- 
stead of  "thou";  and  doing  away  with  restrictions 
which  forbade  common  soldiers  to  smoke  in  the 
streets  and  in  public  places,  frequent  clubs  and  meet- 
ings, ride  inside  a  tram-car,  and  belong  to  societies 
for  political  purposes. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  Kerensky  as  Minister  of 
War  was  to  issue  an  army  order  which  became 
known  as  "the  Soldiers'  Charter."  The  clauses 
most  doubtful  from  the  point  of  view  of  military 
discipline  are  the  following: 

(2)  Every  person  serving  in  the  Array  has  the  right 
to  belong  to  any  political,  national,  religious,  economic,  or 
professional  organization,  society,  or  union. 

(3)  Every  person  serving  in  the  Army  has  the  right, 

1  "Order  No.  1  was  not  communicated  to  any  unit  nor  to  any  staff. 
Nevertheless,  as  soon  as  it  appeared,  it  was  applied  in  the  Petrograd 
garrison  from  which  it  spread  with  lightning-like  speed  over  all 
Russia  and  through  the  army.  In  1905  when  I  was  returning  in 
mid-Decenilx»r  from  Manciiuria  I  received  in  the  station  at  Krasno- 
yarsk a  like  order  signed  by  the  Soviet  of  delegates  of  the  third 
battalion  of  railroad  reservists.  On  comparing  the  two  documents 
I  found  that  Order  No.  1  was  the  exact  copy  of  that  of  Krasnoyarsk 
in  1905." — General  Monkevitz,  La  Decomposition  de  Varmee  Kusse, 
p.  38. 


THE  DECOMPOSITION  OF  THE  ARMY       149 

when  off  duty,  to  utter  freely  and  publicly,  orally,  or  in 
writing,  or  in  print,  his  political,  religious,  social  and  other 
views. 

(12)  The  obligatory  salute  ...  is  abolished  and  is  re- 
placed for  all  persons  serving  in  the  Army  by  a  voluntary 
and  mutual  salute.  .  .  . 

(18)  The  right  of  internal  self-government,  punishment 
and  control  in  certain  strictly  defined  matters  (Army  or- 
ders, No.  213  and  274)  belongs  to  the  elected  army  organi- 
zations, committees  and  courts. 

The  main  defect  of  this  "charter"  lay  in  the  fact 
that  it  conferred  "rights"  without  defining 
"duties."  Kerensky  boasted  that  it  bestowed  on 
Russian  soldiers  privileges  such  as  were  not  enjoyed 
by  any  other  soldier  in  the  world.  In  view  of  what 
befell  it  is  not  likely  that  any  other  people  will  be 
in  a  hurry  to  deprive  the  Russian  soldiers  of  this 
title  to  distinction. 

In  theory  the  committees,  which  soon  existed  for 
every  grade  of  army  unit  great  or  small,  were  to 
look  after  the  soldier 's  moral  and  material  welfare, 
protect  his  legal  rights,  and  see  that  the  men  were 
not  moved  about  by  their  generals,  like  pawns  on 
a  chessboard,  in  order  to  promote  some  counter- 
revolutionary attempt.  Nobody  intended  that  they 
should  meddle  with  strictly  military  matters.  But, 
given  the  distrust  the  rank  and  file  felt  for  their 
officers,  and  given  the  ascendency  the  bold  and  ready 
talker  was  bound  to  gain  over  ignorant  and  illiterate 
men,  it  was  inevitable  that  before  long  the  com- 
mittees were  debating  such  topics  as  the  relief  of 
the  front-line  units,  the  amount  of  time  to  be  de- 
voted to  exercises  and  manoeuvers,  the  reliability  of 


150     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

the  commanding  officer,  etc.     As  a  Russian  general 
on  the  Rumanian  sector  of  the  front  puts  it: 

As  one  man  the  whole  army  talked,  talked,  talked.  .  .  . 
In  our  army  above  40,000  men  were  members  of  commit- 
tees and  they  rendered  no  service  save  talking.  .  .  .  Al- 
though overwhelmed  with  the  preparation  of  the  July  of- 
fensive, our  Staff  was  flooded  with  deputations  from  the 
different  military  units  making  futile  requests  and  com- 
plaints. Often  the  committees  addressed  the  commanding 
general  "demanding"  the  displacement  of  certain  officers 
on  the  ground  that  they  were  "loyal  to  the  old  regime" 
or  "do  not  recognize  the  liberties  conquered  by  the  peo- 
ple." 

As  to  exercises,  manceuvers,  and  the  improvement  of  our 
positions,  one  no  longer  thought  of  them.  In  some  regi- 
ments tlie  committees  had  fixed  the  day's  work  at  six,  five, 
or  even  four  hours.  There  were  cases  when  whole  regiments 
refused  to  quit  their  quarters  in^rder  to  relieve  their  com- 
rades in  the  front  line.  It  was  only  after  long  parleys  that 
one  persuaded  them  to  obey.  The  officers,  deprived  of  all 
authority,  were  powerless  to  contend  with  this  state  of 
things.^ 

An  altogether  different  cause  of  demoralization 
was  the  Bolshevik  propaganda — agitators  and  lit- 
erature— which  went  forward  rapidly  from  May  on. 
Their  contention  was  that  the  war  was  ''capitalistic" 
and  that  soldiers  ought  to  fight  no  more  until  the 
secret  treaties  made  by  the  tsar  had  been  revised 
and  the  Allies  had  accepted  the  principle  of  peace 
''without  annexations  or  indemnities."  Under  the 
influence  of  such  teachings  the  soldiers  became  at 
first  sullen  and  suspicious,  at  last  savage  and  fero- 

1  Monkevitz,  op.  cit. 


THE  .DECOMPOSITION  OF  THE  ARMY       151 

cious  toward  the  officers  who  sought  to  make  them 
fight. 

In  a  speech  before  the  Moscow  Soviet  on  March 
12,  1918,  Lenin  said  in  reply  to  the  charge  of  hav- 
ing disorganized  the  Russian  army: 

Had  it  not  been  foK  individuals  who,  like  Kerensky,  called 
themselves  socialists  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  were  hiding 
in  their  pockets  secret  treaties  by  which  the  Russian  peo- 
ple were  bound  to  fight  until  1918— then,  perhaps,  the  Rus- 
sian army  and  the  Russian  Revolution  might  have  escaped 
from  the  intolerable  trials  and  humiliations  which  we  had 
to  endure.  If  in  those  days  all  power  had  passed  to  the 
Soviets,  if  the  compromisers,  instead  of  supporting  Ker- 
ensky and  sending  the  army  into  battle,  had  proposed  then 
a  democratic  peace,  the  army  would  not  have  been  ruined. 
They  ought  to  have  told  the  soldiers:  "Stand  still;  hold  in 
one  hand  your  rifle  and  in  the  other  the  torn-up  imperial- 
istic covenant  and  a  new  proposal  of  general  peace  to  the 
whole  democratic  world;  do  not  break  the  front."  Thus 
the  army  and  the  Revolution  could  have  been  saved.^ 

The  factors  in  the  demoralization  of  the  s.oldiers 
appear  very  clearly  in  the  reports  of  the  representa- 
tives of  the  front  before  the  Central  Executive  Com- 
mittee of  the  so\^ets  on  July  29th.  The  delegate 
from  the  Tenth  Army  said; 

.  .  There  is  such  a  mood  of  weariness  in  the  regiments 
as  a  result  of  three  years  of  war,  and  such  unwillingness  to 
die,  that  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  inspire  them  to  heroic 

1 1  have  often  been  asked  whether  anything  could  have  been  done 
to  avert  the  rotting  of  the  Russian  Army  and  Russia's  abandonment 
of  the  war.  I  have  always  replied:  "If  in  July,  1917.  the  Allies 
had  issued  the  declaration  of  war  aims  which  they  permitted  President 
Wilson  to  make  on  January  8,  1918,  it  is  possible  that  Russia  might 
have  stayed  with  the  Allies." 


152     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

action.  In  the  heart  of  every  soldier  from  the  very  be- 
ginning of  the  war,  and  since  the  revolution  especially, 
the  dream  of  peace  is  invincibly  powerful.  And  if  some 
part  was  played  by  the  agitation  of  certain  politicial  par- 
ties and  individuals  in  this  longing  for  peace  that  part, 
however,  has  been  secondary.  This  agitation  simply 
chimed  in  with  pre-existing  sentiment  of  the  army.  .  ,  . 

As  to  the  higher  command  its  definite  counter-revolution- 
ary tendency  is  unquestionable.  Being  extremely  incap- 
able, the  higher  command  opposes  all  the  measures  of  the 
government  aiming  to  strengthen  the  soldiers'  organiza- 
tions. .  .  . 

The  representative  of  the  Ninth  Army,  who  fol- 
lowed him,  spoke  in  like  vein : 

Approximately  the  same  thing  happened  with  us  also. 
The  same  weariness,  the  same  superiority  in  technical 
equipment  and  numbers  over  the  enemy,  the  same  counter- 
revolutionary tendencies  of  the  command. 

All  the  slogans  thrown  at  us  from  the  rear  were  taken 
in  a  very  literal  and  primitive  manner,  and  produced  a  most 
original  reaction.  The  revolution  was  accepted  not  as  a 
new  system  but  as  an  end  to  all  the  hardships  which  a 
state  imposes. 

Freedom  meant  the  opportunity  to  do  anything  that 
one  plea.sed.  Equality  was  understood  in  a  most  anar- 
chistic manner.  Soldiers  and  officers  must  be  equal  in  ab- 
solutely everything.  There  were  even  proposals  in  the 
committee  that  all,  beginning  with  the  company  cook  and 
ending  with  the  War  Minister,  should  receive  the  same 
pay,  about  seven  rubles  a  month.  Even  the  fact  that  the 
members  of  the  committees  used  automobiles  in  traveling 
about  on  their  official  duties  caused  protest.  Some  said  : 
"What  kind  of  equality  is  it  when  he  rides  and  I  have  to 
walk?"     The    slogan    "CoirAiating  -the   bourgeoisie"   was 


THE  DECOMPOSITION  OF  THE  ARMY       153 

taken  in  literal  and  simple  fashion :  anyone  who  was  placed 
in  better  condition  was  a  "bourgeois,"  a  soldier  who  lived 
in  a  better  dugout  was  a  "bourgeois."  Soldiers  in  the 
artillery  were  considered  absolute  "bourgeois"  as  they  were 
somewhat  removed  from  the  front-line  trenches. 

The  delegate  from  the  Fifth  Army  declared: 

During  the  first  revolutionary  days  all  of  the  army  was 
engulfed  by  a  wave  of  enthusiasm — now  it  has  gone  quite  to 
the  bad. 

The  cause  is  partly  disillusionment,  owing  to  the  tired 
and  ignorant  mass  of  soldiers  having  expected  from  the 
revolution  an  immediate  conclusion  of  peace.  The  Pravda  ^ 
and  the  Trench  Pravda  undoubtedly  played  a  part  in  the 
deterioration.  The  gendarmes  and  the  policemen  - 
played  their  part  as  well.  They  were  difficult  to  deal  with, 
for  the  things  that  they  advocated  met  the  desires  of  the 
weary  deteriorating  army. 

The  representative  of  the  Twelfth  Army  observed : 

.  .  .  The  principal  causes  of  all  these  conditions  are 
general.  They  are  weariness,  lack  of  replacements  and 
the  experiences  of  three  years  of  war. 

The  pro])lein  was  complicated  by  the  presence  of  geuj 
darmes  and  police  propaganda.  Gendarmes  and  police- 
men hiding  behind  Bolshevik  slogans  were  the  leaders  and 
creators  of  disorganization.  They  were  aided  in  many 
things  by  the  Trench  Pravda,  which  flouted  the  orders  of 
the  revolutionan-  democracy. 

The  critical  attitude  of  the  men  toward  the  war 
presently   gave   rise   to   the   strangest   happenings. 

1  Official  or^an  of  the  Bolshevik  party. 

2  These  minions  of  the  old  reaime  were  promptly  sent  to  the  front 
by  the  Provisional  Government,  but  they  proved  to  be  a  most  per- 
nicious  influence  in   the  army. 


154     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

The  Galician  offensive  launched  by  Kerensky  on 
July  1st  opened  with  brilliant  success  and  thousands 
of  prisoners  were  taken.  But  at  a  critical  moment  a 
regiment  which  had  orders  to  support  a  threatened 
point  deliberately  turned  its  back  upon  the  enemy 
and  retired,  thereby  obliging  the  neighboring  sec- 
tions of  the  front  to  give  way.  Retirement  degen- 
erated into  mad  flight  and  far  to  the  rear  mobs  of 
brutalized  soldiers  inflicted  horrors  upon  women  and 
children. 

Things  had  now  come  to  such  a  pass  that  the 
chief  preparation  for  an  offensive  consisted  in  per- 
suading these  childlike  soldiers  of  the  necessity  of 
fighting  in  order  to  bring  about  an  early  peace. 
There  were  many  cases  in  which,  when  the  moment 
came  to  go  ''over  the  top,"  only  the  officers  and  a 
few  soldiers  fired  by  their  example  attacked,  the 
rest  refusing;  and  at  the  moment  these  heroes  threw 
themselves  upon  the  enemy  those  remaining  behind 
shot  them  in  the  back ! 

One  general,  having  heard  that  one  of  his  regi- 
ments meditated  just  this  thing  in  the  morrow's 
attack,  gathered  the  men  about  him  and  said: 

"I  have  heard  say  that  among  the  soldiers  of  this 
valiant  regiment  there  are  cowards  who  have  the 
intention  of  shooting  their  officers  at  the  moment  of 
attack.  Know  that  I  will  not  survive  such  an  in- 
famy. I  shall  be  with  you  when  the  assault  begins 
and  I  order  you  to  send  your  traitorous  bullets 
against  me  before  taking  the  life  of  your  officers. 
Let  my  body  bear  witness  to  your  cowardice!"  At 
these  words  the  conscience  of  the  soldiers  awakened. 
Troubled  voices  were  lifted,  affirming  that  no  vsuch 


THE  DECOMPOSITION  OF  THE  ARMY      155 

thing  would  occur  in  this  regiment.  He  left  after 
having  had  their  promise  that  there  would  be  no 
treason  and,  in  fact,  this  regiment  fought  well. 

By  autumn  save  for  rare  units  the  fight  was  all 
out  of  the  Russian  Araiy.  Dreaming  only  of  peace 
and  home,  the  soldiers  had  lost  all  military  bearing. 
Dirty,  unkempt,  hands  in  pockets  and  a  cigarette  in 
the  mouth,  these  slouching  men  with  an  insolent, 
cynical  expression  on  their  faces  looked  more  like 
brigands  than  citizens  defending  their  country.  The 
soldiers  had  come  to  feel  for  their  officers  the  hate 
they  felt  for  the  bourgeoisie.  At  first  the  officers 
regarded  the  soldiers  as  misled  children,  but  in  time 
they  returned  hate  for  hate.  Just  here  we  see  ger- 
minating that  ferocity  which  later  will  characterize 
the  Eed  Terror  and  the  White  Terror.  After  the 
Kornilov  attempt,  which  most  of  the  officers  ap- 
proved, the  gulf  widened  and  thenceforth  the  officers 
were  called  ''Kornilovists.'^  ^ 

Then   fraternalization   came  in  to  destroy  what 

1  On  September  16th  the  Central  Executive  Committee  of  tlie 
Soviets  appealed  to  the  soldiers  not  to  lynch  their  officers.  It  said 
in  part : 

".  .  .  Soldiers  of  the  Russian  Revolution.  Restrain  your  anger. 
There  should  be  no  violence  and  lawless  killing  of  officers.  Among 
them  the  great  majority  are  our  comrades  in  the  Revolution.  And 
the  counter-revolutionary  enemy,  while  jeering  at  you,  will  try  to 
set  you  on  your  comrades — the  Revolutionary  officers.  In  the  dis- 
orderly unlawful  violence  there  may  be  spilling  of  blood,  blood  of  the 
innocent,  to  the  joy  of  the  enemies  of  the  Revolution  and  for  the 
benefit  of  the  German  General  Staff.  Your  representatives  are  vigi- 
lantly watching  that  the  traitors  should  receive  their  deserved 
punishment. 

'■'Every  one  of  the  traitors — from  a  general  to  a  soldier — will  an- 
swer in  court  for  the  rebellion  against  the  Revolutionary  government. 

"The  Revolution  will  punish  the  traitors,  the  interests  of  the  Revo- 
lution demand  that  the  ascertainment  of  guilt  should  be  by  means 
of  a   public  trial. 

"In  the  interest  of  the  Revolution  abstain  from  unlawful  violence." 


156     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

vestiges  of  soldier  morale  yet  remained.  No  longer 
were  there  patrols  or  reconnaissances.  The  Russian 
soldiers  would  have  deemed  it  treachery  to  attack 
the  enemy.  The  German  and  Austrian  commanders, 
delighted  to  take  advantage  of  this  mood,  formed 
in  each  company  a  special  squad,  well  provided  with 
beer,  charged  with  the  duty  of  entering  into  relations 
with  the  Russians  opposite  them.  Its  members  re- 
ceived in  advance  detailed  instructions  as  to  what 
to  talk  about  and  what  ideas  to  spread  among  the 
Russians.  They  had  quantities  of  Russian  litera- 
ture "made  in  Germany"  which  they  distributed. 
They  provided  letter-boxes  and  offered  to  convey 
letters  from  the  Russian  soldiers  to  their  families 
in  the  occupied  provinces.  Naturally  by  this  means 
they  learned  everything  they  wished  to  know.^ 
From  the  moment  of  entering  on  this  phase  the 

1  On  May  13th  Izvestia  printed  the  following: 

Yesterday  in  the  newspaper  Pravda  a  resolution  was  printed  which 
was  adopted  by  the  Bolshevik  Conference  regarding  fraternization  of 
soldiers  in  the  trenches.  This  resolution  says  in  part:  "The  party 
of  Bolsheviks  will  especially  support  the  mass  fraternization  of  sol- 
diers of  all  warring  countries  at  the  front,  which  has  already  begun, 
and  will  aim  to  turn  this  elcmcnfary  exhibition  of  the  solidarity  of 
the  oppressed  into  a  conscious  and  better  organized  movement  for 
transferring  government  authority  in  all  the  warring  countries  to  the 
revolutionary  proletariat."  We  consider  it  necessary  to  call  the  at- 
tention of  the  comrades  to  tliis  resolution  and  to  warn  them  that  in 
this  resolution  is  hidden  a  danger  to  the  cause  of  the  defense  of  the 
Revolution  at  tin-  front. 

We  receive  daily  from  the  front  telegrams  and  resolutions  about 
fraternization,  and  everywhere  comrades  emphasize  that  fraterniza- 
tion in  the  trenches  is  a  dark  and  dangerous  affair.  Under  the 
guise  of  fraternization  spying  sometimes  takes  place.  Often  agents 
of  the  German  staff,  dressed  as  soldiers,  come  tf)  fraternize. 

Those  ready  to  support  fraternization  take  upon  themselves  a  great 
responsibility  for  its  possible  conseq\iences.  Against  these  tactics 
we  warn  comrade  soldiers,  for  they  will  have  to  pay  a  great  price  for 
them — their  lives  and  their  blood! 

How  well  events  fulfilled  this  prophecy! 


THE  DECOMPOSITION  OF  THE  ARMY      157 

Russian  soldiers  at  the  front  led  an  easy  life. 
Whereas  formerly  their  chief  desire  had  been  to 
get  to  the  rear,  now  they  coveted  a  position  at  the 
front,  for  they  were  in  no  danger  and  had  nothing 
to  do,  while  in  the  rear  there  was  work  to  be  done 
in  connection  with  the  care  of  the  animals  and  the 
getting  up  of  supplies. 

The  instituting  of  commissaries,  which  the  Pro- 
visional Government,  following  the  example  of  the 
French  Convention  of  1793,  sent  to  the  various 
armies  to  serve  as  intermediaries  between  the  com- 
mander and  the  troops,  did  not  avail  to  arrest  decay. 
These  men  were  usually  tried  revolutionaries  with 
a  Siberian  record,  and  if  any  one  was  entitled  to  the 
confidence  of  the  common  soldiers  it  was  they.  If 
the  root  of  their  trouble  had  been  suspicion  of  their 
officers,  the  fervent  and  patriotic  appeals  of  these 
commissaries  to  fight  for  the  safeguarding  of  the 
Revolution  against  the  Kaiser  might  have  stayed  its 
course.  But  the  propaganda  against  going  on  with 
the  war  fell  in  too  neatly  with  the  soldier's  natural 
desires  to  be  resisted.  The  Russian  is  as  brave  as 
any  other  man,  but,  like  all  human  beings,  he  feels 
a  distinct  preference  for  remaining  alive  if  he  per- 
ceives no  worth-while  end  to  be  gained  by  his  letting 
himself  be  killed.  So  the  time  came  when  the  men 
were  as  ready  to  murder  a  commissary  as  to  murder 
an  officer.^ 

1  Izvestia  of  September  lotli  describes  the  end  of  Feodor  Linde 
who  instigated  the  demonstration  of  the  Petrograd  garrison  on  May 
3d  and  who  afterward  as  assistant  commissary  sought  to  stem  the 
tide  of  insubordination  at  the  front. 

'•Linde  was  killed  by  infuriated  soldiers  of  the  433d  Regiment,  of 
the  11th  Infantry  Division.  This  division,  after  a  gas  attack  of  the 
enemy,   refused   to  drill.     Linde   went  to  that   division   in   order   to 


158     TH^E  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

Nor  did  the  heroic  expedient  of  the  ''Women's 
Battalion  of  Death"  created  in  May  by  the  woman 
veteran  Maria  Botchkareva  have  the  electrifying 
effect  hoped  for.  It  was  expected  that,  set  ablaze 
by  the  spectacle  of  three  hundred  of  their  sisters 
going  into  deadly  battle,  the  Russian  front  would 
rise  and  rush  forward  as  one  man.  What  happened 
was  that  the  men  of  the  regiment  would  not  advance 
at  the  "zero"  hour  (3  A.  M.,  July  8th),  but  spent 
hours  in  debating  whether  or  not  to  attack.  Finally, 
late  in  the  afternoon,  the  officers  and  best  men  of 
the  regiment  joined  with  the  women  in  a  costly  but 
successful  attack.  They  took  the  first,  second,  and 
third  enemy  lines,  but  found  themselves  in  an  ex- 
posed position  and  menaced  by  counter-attack.  The 
commander  telephoned  them  to  hold  on,  as  he  was 
sending  the  Ninth  Corps  to  their  succor.  Hours 
passed,  but  the   aid  failed  to   arrive.     The  Ninth 

persuade  the  soldiers  to  obey  orders,  but  did  not  succeed  in  his  mis- 
sion. In  view  of  the  complete  decomposition  of  the  regiments  of 
this  division  Linde  demanded  the  following  day  that  the  division 
should  surrender  the  instigators  of  disorder.  The  soldiers  surrendered 
twenty-eight  instigators,  who  were  placed  under  arrest.  Four  com- 
panies who  showed  resistance  were  disbanded.  Linde  made  a  speech 
to  each  company  in  which  he  described  Russia's  difficult  position  and 
dwelt  upon  the  duty  of  the  soldier.  While  so  doing  two  battalions 
of  the  433d  Regiment  gathered  up  their  arms  and  sent  a  delegation 
to  Linde  which  invited  him  to  visit  them.  Linde  ordered  both  bat- 
talions to  line  up,  and  an  hour  later  entered  an  automobile  and  started 
out  on  his  way  to  those  battalions.  Wlien  the  automobile  came  out 
on  a  forest  road  shots  were  fired  in  quick  succession  from  behind  the 
trees.  Several  hundred  soldiers  ran  out  on  the  road,  and  surrounded 
the  automobile.  A  small  Cossack  convoy  which  was  escorting  the 
automobile  scattered.  Linde  left  the  automobile  and  attempted  to 
reach  the  nearest  earthen  hut,  but  at  the  door  of  tlie  hut  fell  under 
the  blows.  The  mob  engaged  in  mockery  over  the  corpse,  fired  at  it 
and  stuck  bayonets  into  it.  In  the  evening  of  the  same  day  the  same 
regiment  murdered  the  Chief  of  the  Division,  Cxcneral  Hirschfeld." 

[Signed]  VorriNSKY. 


THE  DECOMPOSITION  OF  THE  ARMY       159 

Corps  left  its  reserve  billets  and  went  forward  till 
it  came  to  the  front-line  Russian  trenches.  There 
it  stopped  and  held  a  meeting  to  decide  whether  or 
not  to  go  on.  The  oflScers  implored  the  men  to  ad- 
vance, as  the  calls  for  help  from  the  Women's  Bat- 
talion became  more  insistent.  There  was  no  re- 
sponse. The  men  declared  themselves  ready  to  re- 
sist a  German  attack,  but  would  engage  in  no  offen- 
sive operation.  The  women  extricated  themselves 
as  best  they  could,  having  lost  a  third  of  their  num- 
ber. As  the  breathless,  muddy,  blood-bespatter-ed 
survivors  one  by  one  trekked  back  into  their 
trenches,  they  found  the  Ninth  Corps  still  debating 
whether  or  not  to  go  to  their  relief! 

In  the  end  the  Women's  Battalion  had  to  be  ab- 
ruptly disbanded  in  order  to  save  its  members  from 
being  lynched  by  the  infuriated  soldiers,  who  re- 
garded its  keeping  up  of  hostilities  against  the  Ger- 
mans as  delaying  peace. ^ 

In  its  final  phase  of  demoralization  the  Russian 
Army  simply  disintegrates.  Without  permission, 
the  soldier,  taking  haversack,  rifle,  and  some  clips 
of  cartridges,  demobilizes  himself  and  starts  for 
home.  His  uniform  entitles  him  to-  free  transporta- 
tion and  bread  at  a  nominal  price,  while  in  all  the 
larger  towns  there  are  canteens  for  the  soldier's  ac- 
commodation. In  the  winter  of  1917-18  these  men 
by  tens  of  thousands  stream  along  the  railroads. 
The  stations  are  packed.  No  train  moves  away  from 
the  front  without  every  coupe,  aisle,  wash-room, 
vestibule,  and  platform  being  packed  with  soldiers. 
The  men  even  cluster  on  the  steps  of  the  cars  and 

1  See  Botchkareva's  Yashka,  Chapters  XIV-XVI. 


160     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

pile  upon  the  roof  until  sometimes  it  gives  way. 

Much  has  been  made  of  the  occasional  brutalities 
committed  by  traveling  soldiers  against  civilian  pas- 
sengers. With  myriads  of  men  in  movement  and 
authority  crumbling,  the  wonder  is  that  there  were 
so  few  excesses.^ 

In  the  latter  half  of  1917  I  traveled  twenty  thou- 
sand miles  in  Russia  without  ever  witnessing  an  act 
of  violence.  Our  train  crossing  Russia  and  Siberia 
December  18-31  left  Petrograd  as  it  should,  but  at 
the  first  stop  it  was  flooded  with  soldiers,  most  of 
whom  accompanied  us  for  the  ensuing  two  weeks. 
In  that  time  they  had  no  chance  to  remove  their 
clothing  or  wash  or  lie  down  or  eat  a  square  meal. 
Yet  they  endured  all  with  patience,  never  invaded 
our  coupe  in  which  my  comrade  lay  sick,  and  acted 
altogether  in  a  very  decent  manner. 

1  In  traveling  from  Rostov-on-the-Don  to  Moscow  in  the  last  days 
of  November,  1017,  I  entered  the  following  in  my  diary: 

"Last  night  every  car  on  tlie  train,  first-  and  second-class  as  well 
as  thir.d,  was  crowded.  The  coupes  held  as  many  as  could  sit  down ; 
the  corridors  were  full  of  soldiers  who  would  have  to  stand  all  night. 
The  platforms  and  vestibules  were  packed,  even  the  steps.  Soldiers 
who  had  been  waiting  I  don't  know  how  many  hours  at  a  station  could 
find  no  foothold  on  tlie  train.  Yet  here  we  passengers  in  the  'Interna- 
tional' sleeping-car  were  sitting  warm  in  our  coupes,  eating  our  fill, 
sipping  our  tea,  and  lying  down  on  a  luxurious  bed,  while  the  sol- 
diers who  had  Ijeen  risking  their  lives  fof  their  country  stood  up  all 
.night  in  the  cold.  Several  of  the  berths  were  unoccupied,  the  corri- 
dors were  free,  yet  the  soldiers  did  not  break  the  glass  in  the  door  and 
let  themselves  in.  They  pounded  often  on  the  door  and  threatened  to 
break  in,  hitt  still  they  did  not.  Nothing  whatever  would  have  hap- 
pened to  them,  I  sui)pose,  if  they  had  forced  the  car  door,  but  yet 
their  respect  for  property  was  such  they  let  us  bourgeois  enjoy  in 
peace  the  luxury  we  enjoyed  for  no  other  reason  than  that  we  had  tlie 
money  to  pay  for  it.  The  astonishing  thing  in  this  revolution  is  not 
the  excesses  of  the  masses,  ))ut  that  the  masses  in  the  absence  of  all 
restraining  authority  respect  the  rights  of  the  possessing  class  as 
much  as  they  do." 


Leon  Trotzky 

People's  Commissary  of  War 


r(jlitir;i.l  manilrwlaiion  in  favor  of  the  Soviet,  July  1,  1917 


CHAPTER  XV 
'  THE  JULY  RIOTS 

ON  July  16th,  17th  and  18th  there  took  place  in 
Petrograd  demonstrations  and  riots  which 
opened  a  horrifying  prospect  of  civil  war  and  which 
had  for  a  time  a  damaging  effect  upon  the  standing 
of  the  Bolshevist  leaders.  The  facts  as  they  may 
be  gathered  chiefly  from  the  Cadet  newspaper 
Ryech  appear  to  be  as  follows. 

Early  in  the  evening  of  July  16th  automobiles  and 
trucks  filled  with  armed  soldiers  and  workmen  and 
frequently  carrying  machine-guns  appear  on  the 
streets  under  banners  bearing  the  words  ''Down 
with  the  Capitalist  Ministers,"  "All  Powder  to  the 
"Workers'  and  Peasants'  Soviets."  Soldiers  halt 
passi'.ig  automobiles  and  compel  the  chauffeurs  to 
drive  them  about  the  city.  On  the  Nevsky  and  other 
main  streets  meetings  are  held  denouncing  the  Pro- 
visior:al  Government  and  the  bourgeoisie.  At  sev- 
eral of  the  great  factories  strikes  are  called  and  the 
worki  rs  march  toward  the  central  parts  of  the  city. 

Meanwhile  the  garrison  shows  great  uneasiness. 
At  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  Moscow  Regi- 
ment decides  ''to  come  out  into  the  streets  at  the 
first  calL"  Whose  call?  Nobody  knows.  The 
Third  Machine-Gunners  think  of  leaving  their  bar- 
racks in  a  body,  but  are  dissuaded  by  the  Heav}^ 
Artillery  Division  located  near  by.  The  commander 
of  the  Grenadier  Regiment  reports  at  twenty  min- 

161 


# 


162     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

utes  past  eight  that  his  soldiers  are  compelling  their 
officers  to  come  out  with  them  into  the  street.  The 
First  Machine-Gun  Regiment  leaves  its  barracks  in 
battle  array.  The  Fourth  Regiment  of  Don  Cos- 
sacks ride  out  into  the  street.  Soldiers  in  an  armed 
automobile  dash  up  to  the  quarters  of  the  Semeonov 
Regiment  and  vainly  urge  the  men  to  come  out.  A 
similar  party  visits  an  automobile  unit,  demanding 
trucks.  When  asked  on  whose  order  the  trucks  are 
to  be  furnished  and  for  what  purpose,  the  soldiers 
cannot  give  an  answer.  One  of  their  number,  a 
grenadier,  explains  that  the  Cossacks  have  lashed 
with  whips  a  grenadier  regiment  at  the  front  and 
that  the  Government  intends  to  disband  the  guard 
regiments,  incorporate  their  members  into  line  regi- 
ments, and  send  them  into  the  trenches.  He  con- 
cludes that  the  "capitalists"  in  the  Cabinet  must  be 
ousted.  When  the  automobilists  insist  on  knowing 
what  the  soldiers  mean  to  do  with  the  trucks,  they 
are  told  that  the  intention  is  to  go  to  Mars  Field 
and  thence  to  the  Tauride  Palace.  After  that  '*we 
will  see  what  to  do." 

At  eight  o'clock  a  band  in  automobiles  with  ma- 
chine-guns descends  upon  the  Warsaw  Station  in- 
tending to  seize  Kerensky,  the  Minister  of  War,  be- 
fore his  departure  for  the  front.  They  are  twenty 
minutes  too  late.  Soon  after  a  party  present  them- 
selves at  the  apartment  of  Prince  Lvov,  Prime  Min- 
ister, demanding  the  surrender  of  the  ministers  with 
him  and  stating  that  they  are  requisitioning  govern- 
ment automobiles.  Tseretelli  goes  out  to  speak  to 
them,  but  they  have  disappeared  with  his  automo- 
bUe. 


THE  JULY  RIOTS  163 

With  armed  men  *' joy-riding"  about  the  capital 
on"  one  of  the  midsummer  ''white  nights"  for  which 
this  latitude  is  famed,  clashes  are  inevitable.  All 
that  is  needed  is  for  busybodies  to  tell  the  occupants 
of  one  automobile  that  the  occupants  of  some  ap- 
proaching automobile  are  "counter-revolutionary." 
In  a  casual  don't-care  spirit  the  machine-guns  will 
be  loosed,  and  there  will  be  killed  and  wounded.  In 
some  places  shooting  occurs  because  street  crowds 
and  soldiers  attempt  to  hold  up  these  "joy-riders." 

Shortly  before  midnight  a  party  of  anarchists 
seize  the  printing  plant  of  the  Novoye  Vremya, 
stop  the  work  on  the  newspaper,  and  cause  to  be 
printed  an  appeal  of  their  own  which  says:  "Let 
the  people  come  out  armed  and  demand  the  over- 
throw of  the  Provisional  Government  and  the  con- 
fiscation of  all  bourgeois  newspapers.  Comrades, 
our  side  has  the  physical  strength,  therefore  let  us 
without  hesitation  take  into  our  hands  all  factories, 
shops,  land,  and  other  tools  of  production.  .  .  . 
Comrades,  forward  without  fear!  Long  live  the 
social  revolution ! ' ' 

They  leave  the  newspaper  plant  about  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  At  about  nine  o'clock  the  following 
evening  bodies  of  soldiers  and  armed  workers  fill  the 
streets  about  the  Tauride  Palace,  now  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Soviets.  At  the  demand  of  the  crowd 
speakers  from  the  Central  Executive  Committee  ad- 
dress them.  Tcheidze  and  Voitinsky,  who  urge 
them  to  disperse  to  their  homes,  are  ill-received. 
Trotsky  is  heartily  cheered  when  he  says:  "It  is 
necessary  to  turn  over  all  power  to  the  Soviets  of 
Workers',  Soldiers'  and  Peasants'  Delegates.     How- 


164     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

ever,  in  order  to  attain  this  end  it  is  necessary  to 
use  peaceful  measures  without  resort  to  arms." 

At  midnight  the  Central  and  the  Petrograd  Exec- 
utive Committees  meet.  Tseretelli  and  Dan  insist 
that  an  attempt  is  being  made  to  force  the  Soviets 
at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  to  take  over  all  power 
in  the  country.  Most  sigTiificant,  however,  are  the 
remarks  of  Kokoshkin: 

"Criminal  elements  are  involved  in  these  disorders.  The 
workers  in  the  Petrograd  post-office  went  on  strike.  A 
liody  of  soldiers  over  forty  years  of  age  came  to  Kerensky 
demanding  permission  to  return  to  their  homes,  but  were 
refused.  As  soon  as  one  goes  into  tlie  street  one  sees  that 
the  slogans  "All  power  to  the  Soviets"  are  an  afterthought. 
It  is  not  these  slogans  that  have  brought  the  crowd  into 
the  streets.  Go  out  and  you  will  hear  that  the  street  con- 
versations are  not  about  the  rule  of  the  Soviets,  but  about 
furloughs,  about  the  Cadet  ministers.  ...  It  is  necessary 
to  settle  the  post-office  strike  and  to  deal  with  the  question  of 
the  forty-year-old  soldiers,  who  are  a  counter-revolutionary 
element  thinking  only  of  their  own  skins. 

Some  light  on  the  meaning  of  events  may  be  gained 
from  the  minutes  of  the  meeting  of  the  Workers' 
Section  of  the  Petrograd  Soviet,  for  this  is  the  meet- 
ing in  which  the  Bolsheviks  for  the  first  time  find 
themselves  in  the  majority.  When  it  becomes  known 
that  soldiers  are  marching  upon  the  palace,  it  is 
moved  that  the  meeting  be  adjourned  and  that  the 
members  scatter  about  the  city  in  order  to  dissuade 
the  workers  from  coming  out.  In  the  ensuing  debate 
Kamenev  (Bolshevik)  argues,  "Once  the  masses 
come  out  into  the  street,  we  must  give  their  action 
a    peaceful   and   organized   charactei". "     Weinstein 


THE  JULY  RIOTS  165 

(Meiishevik)  taunts  the  Bolsheviks  with  their  inabil- 
ity to  restrain  the  regiments  from  coming  out. 
Trotsky  insists  that  the  day's  events  are  the  con- 
sequences of  the  Government's  policy  and  of  the 
mistakes  on  the  part  of  those  parties  which  see  the 
counter-revolution  threatened  from  the  Left;  while, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  coming  on  from  the  Right. 
Kamenev  offers  a  resolution  that  the  workers'  sec- 
tion favors  the  taking  over  of  all  power  by  the  AU- 
Russian  Congress  of  Soviets  and  that  a  com- 
mittee of  twenty-five  members  be  elected  which  shall 
act  in  conjunction  with  the  Petrograd  and  Central 
Executive  Committees,  while  the  rest  of  the  mem- 
bers return  to  their  districts  and  endeavor  to  give 
the  movement  a  peaceful  and  organized  character. 
After  stormy  debate  the  Mensheviks  and  Social  Rev- 
olutionaries leave  the  hall  and  the  resolution  is 
passed  by  the  Bolsheviks. 

Much  more  alarming  are  the  events  of  the  follow- 
ing day.  Bodies  of  troops  arrive  from  Oranien- 
baum  and  Peterhof  in  order  to  demonstrate.  Sail- 
ors, said  to  be  30,000  in  number,  come  over  from 
Kronstadt,  the  naval  base,  and  march  to  the  Bolshe- 
vik headquarters,  where  they  call  out  Lenin  for  a 
speech,  to  Mars  Field  to  visit  the  graves  of  the  vic- 
tims of  the  March  Revolution  and  thence  to  the  Tau- 
ride  Palace.  Regiments  march  and  bodies  of  work- 
ers "from  the  Viborg  side."  Sometimes  they  are 
fired  upon  with  rifles  and  machine-guns  from  the 
upper  stories  and  roofs  of  the  houses,  and  of  course 
they  reply  with  shots.  Altogether  56  persons  are 
killed  and  650  wounded.  The  most  serious  incident 
is  occasioned  by  shots  directed  at  a  troop  of  Cos- 


166     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

sacks  which  have  been  ordered  to  the  protection  of 
the  Tauride  Palace.  The  shots  come  close  to  an 
infantry  regiment  just  then  debouching  from  a  neigh- 
boring street.  Supposing  that  the  Cossacks  are 
shooting  at  them,  the  soldiers  tire  a  volley  which  re- 
sults in  6  Cossacks  killed  and  25  wounded. 

An  immense  concourse  surround  the  Tauride  Pal- 
ace, where  the  Executive  Committee  is  in  confer- 
ence with  the  Socialist  ministers.  Tchernov,  Min- 
ister of  Agriculture,  on  going  out  to  pacify  the 
crowd,  is  jeered,  then  seized  and  placed  in  an  auto- 
mobile, the  declared  intention  being  to  hold  him  as 
a  hostage.  Trotsky,  however,  makes  a  speech  which 
brings  about  Tchernov 's  release. 

At  about  five  o'clock  the  C.  E.  C.  (Central  Ex- 
ecutive Committee)  and  the  Peasants'  E.  C.  (Exec- 
utive Committee)  meet,  and  ninety  delegates  from 
Petrograd  factories  and  the  Peterhof  Soviet  are  ad- 
mitted who  "demand"  that  all  power  be  taken  over 
by  the  Soviets  and  who  denounce  appeals  of  the 
C.  E.  C.  which  stigmatize  the  participants  in  the 
street  demonstrations  as  "counter-revolutionists." 

Meanwhile  Government  and  Soviet  have  decided 
to  disarm  individuals  in  the  streets  and  to  stop  the 
circulation  of  armed  automobiles.  In  the  evening 
cadets  from  the  military  schools,  Cossacks,  and  other 
cavalrymen  are  assembled  in  Palace  Square  and 
thence  penetrate  to  strategic  points  in  the  city.  But 
after  all  force  plays  only  a  small  part  in  terminating 
the  disorders,  for  they  cease  of  themselves.  It  rains 
and  water  is  deadly  to  demonstrations.  In  the  words 
of  Miliukov,  uttered  three  weeks  later  before  the 
Convention  of  the  Cadet  party : 


THE  JULY  RIOTS  167 

Finally  the  government  of  non-resistance  felt  a  physical 
necessity  to  defend  itself.  And  the  Soviets,  who  came  into 
a  state  of  complete  panic  and  had  experienced  several 
minutes  equal  to  a  long  history,  several  minutes  which 
brought  them  from  the  realization  of  their  might  to  the 
thought  of  complete  impotence — the  Soviets  began  to  in- 
sist on  the  use  of  force.  Force  appeared.  Hastily  invalid 
soldiers  came.  Volunteers  from  the  public  began  to  organ- 
ize. Finally  came  the  Cossacks,  and  after  the  Cossacks — 
the  insurrection  having  already  died  out  itself,  becoming  a 
victim  of  its  own  ideal  emptiness — came  the  regiments  from 
the  front.  But  they  found  no  enemy  to  oppose.  The  re- 
bellion was  defeated  by  the  force  of  its  own  absurdity  be- 
fore the  armed  force  defeated  it.  .  .  . 

Following  the  line  which  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment and  the  dominant  element  in  the  Soviets — Men- 
sheviks  and  Social  Revolutionaries — promptly  took, 
all  Allied  newspaper  correspondents  a-nd  writers 
have  presented  these  July  troubles  as  the  outcome 
of  a  Bolshevik  plot, — as,  in  a  word,  an  abortive  coup 
of  a  minority  faction  aiming  to  seize  power.  The 
impartial  historian  finds  it  difficult  to  accept  this 
view,  for  the  following  reasons. 

If  the  Bolsheviks  had  been  lashing  the  masses  and 
soldiers  to  rise  they  naturally  would  have  used  their 
organ  the  Pravda.  But  the  files  of  the  Pravda 
contain  no  hint  of  the  coming  storm.  The  issues  of 
Saturday  and  Sunday,  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth, 
are  commonplace.  The  Pravda  never  appears  on 
Monday.  The  issue  of  Tuesday  contains  no  appeal 
to  the  people,  not  even  an  account  of  the  stirring 
events  of  Monday.  On  the  first  page  there  is  a  blank 
space  as  if  something  had  been  set  up,  but  at  the  last 
minute  it  had  been  decided  not  to  print  it. 


168      THE  RL'SSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

Lenin,  Trotsky,  Zinoviev,  Kamenev,  and  other 
Bolshevik  leaders  issued  no  appeals,  did  not  urge 
the  workers  or  the  soldiers  to  seize  the  Government. 
On  the  contrary,  Trotsky  in  his  addresses  from  the 
steps  of  the  Tauride  Palace  urged  them  to  return  to 
their  homes  and  barracks. 

When  on  June  23d  during  the  first  Convention  of 
Soviets  the  Bolsheviks  planned  to  conduct  a  demon- 
stration the  slogans  of  which  should  be  ''Do^^^l  with 
the  Capitalist  Ministers!"  ''All  Power  to  the  Sov- 
iets!" the  Convention  adopted  a  resolution  disap- 
proving such  a  demonstration.  Accordingly  the  Bol- 
sheviks decided  to  give  up  their  plan.  The  only  ele- 
ment that  protested  this  action  was  the  Anarchists. 
They  denounced  the  Bolsheviks  as  ''traitors." 

Had  there  been  an  organized  plan  to  overthrow 
the  Government  attempts  w^ould  have  been  made  to 
seize  strategic  points — vital  ganglia  in  a  modern 
capital — telephone  exchange,  telegraph  offices,  rail- 
road stations,  banks,  the  ministries,  and  other  gov- 
ernment buildings.  The  fact  is  the  only  seizures  of 
buildings  during  these  days  were  the  temporary 
taking  over  of  a  newspaper  plant  on  two  different 
occasions  by  anarchists  and  the  capture  of  a  small 
lighting-station,  again  by  anarchists. 

Mrs.  Williams,  who  in  her  book  ' '  From  Liberty  to 
Brest-Litovsk"  falls  in  with  the  Cadet  theory  that 
the  July  disorders  were  a  Bolshevik  clutch  at  power, 
in  an  article  she  published  in  Rijech  at  the  time  testi- 
fies to  the  innocence  of  her  Bolshevik  colleagues  in 
the  Petrograd  Duma.     She  writes : 

An  appeal  to  tho  popnhition  must  be  issued  in  the  name 


pq 


THE  JULY  RIOTS  169 

of  the  City  Dnnia.  The  Bolsheviks  begin  to  object.  From 
all  sides  men  shout  at  them:  "Why  do  you  object?  Are 
3'ou  for  what  is  now  taking  place  in  the  streets?" 

No,  no.  They  also  are  against  it.  But  it  is  necessary 
to  know  what  is  going  on.  It  is  difficult  to  understand 
what  the  Bolsheviks  fear.  It  is  most  likely  that  they 
became  confused,  they  do  not  know  whose  voices  are  heard 
on  the  streets,  their  own  or  alien  hostile  voices.  They  sim- 
ply became  baffled.  And  suppose  the  troops  are  brought 
out  on  the  streets  by  the  counter-revolution?  They  have 
visions  of  it  everywhere. 

The  fundamental  situation  becomes  outlined  still  more 
indubitably — that  not  a  single  one  of  the  political  parties 
represented  in  the  City  Duma  wishes  to  accept  tli<^  respon- 
sibility for  that  blood  which  has  been  spilled  (l;iring  this 
night  in  the  streets  of  Petrograd. 

A  short  appeal  to  the  population  is  adopted  by  the  City 
Duma  unanimousl}-,  by  all  parties,  from  the  Cadets  to  the 
Bolsheviks  inclusive.  "In  the  name  of  the  happiness  and 
welfare  of  our  own  country"  the  newly  elected  Duma  ap- 
peals to  citizens  to  maintain  calm,  not  to  ' '  spill  blood. 

Throe  monllis  later,  in  an  addendum  to  his  pam- 
phlet "Can  the  Bolsheviks  Hold  the  Governmental 
Power?"  Lenin  characterizes  the  July  flurry  as  ''the 
beginning  of  a  civil  war  which  was  held  hack  by 
the  Bolsheviks  within  the  limits  of  a  beginning." 

At  the  end  of  July  before  a  joint  meeting  of  the 
Central  Executive  Committee  and  the  Peasants' 
Executive  Committee  Trotsky  said : 

Already  on  the  July  loth,  while  we  were  having  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Central  Committee,  we  heard  that  an  outbreak 
was  being  planned.  This  news  spread  through  all  the 
regiments  like  a  spark.     In  spite  of  the  fact  that  we  were 


170     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

well  informed  we  did  not  know  the  source  of  these  rumors. 
I  affirm  that  the  sailors  and  the  workers  did  not  know 
what  was  going  on  around  the  Tauride  Palace. 

I  made  a  speech  there  and  I  noticed  that  near  the  en- 
trance was  standing  a  crowd  of  scoundrels.  I  spoke  about 
this  to  Comrade  Lunacharsky  and  Comrade  Riazanov.  I 
told  them  that  these  are  members  of  the  "Okhrana,"  who 
are  attempting  to  break  into  the  Tauride  Palace.  When 
Tchemov  eame  out  these  scoundrels  behind  the  backs  of 
the  masses  attempted  to  arrest  Tchemov.  When  I  ran  out 
to  them  I  noticed  that  there  was  a  group  of  about  ten 
people  engaged  in  this  dirty  work.  I  could  identify  them 
in  a  crowd  of  ten  thousand.  When  I  attempted  to  tell  this 
to  the  masses  it  was  disclosed  that  not  a  single  one  of  the 
workers  or  sailors  knew  them.  The  band  scattered  and 
Tchernov  returned  to  the  palace.  Nobody  knew  about  Ker- 
ensky's  departure  to  the  front  and  the  attempt  to  arrest 
him  could  have  come  only  from  the  front.  The  armed 
masses  did  not  make  an  attempt  to  seize  any  political  insti- 
tution. If  this  point  of  view  is  accepted,  then  there  was  no 
armed  rebellion.  This  proves  that  the  movement  was  ele- 
mentary and  that  counter-revolutionary  elements  got  mixed 
up  in  it. 

We  are  accused  of  creating  the  moods  of  the  masses. 
This  is  not  true ;  we  are  only  attempting  to  formulate  them. 

The  masses  took  up  arms  because  they  knew  about  the 
counter-revolutionary  attempts. 

Together  with  you  we  consider  that  this  was  a  mistake. 
From  the  same  platform  Comrade  Voitinsky  (Menshevik) 
said  that  the  Bolsheviks  warned  the  masses  against  coming 
out.  But  when  the  masses  came  out  we  understood  that  it 
is  our  duty  to  introduce  orderliness  in  this  movement.  We 
said  to  these  masses:  "Though  your  slogans  are  just,  do 
not  come  out  but  return  to  your  homes." 

Later  Trotsky  writes :  ^ 

1  The  Russian  Itcvolution,  pp.  25-27. 


THE  JULY  RIOTS  171 

The  Central  Executive  Committee,  elected  at  the  June 
Congress  and  depending  for  support  on  the  more  back- 
ward provinces,  was  pushing  the  Petrograd  Soviet  more 
and  more  into  the  background  and  was  taking  into  its 
own  hands  even  the  conduct  of  purely  Petrograd  affairs. 
A  conflict  was  inevitable.  The  workers  and  soldiers  were 
exerting  pressure  from  below,  giving  violent  expression  to 
their  discontent  with  the  official  policy  of  the  Soviet,  and 
demanded  from  our  party  more  drastic  action.  We  con- 
sidered that  in  view  of  the  still  backward  condition  of  the 
provinces  the  hour  for  such  action  had  not  yet  struck. 

In  the  ranks  of  our  party,  the  attitude  toward  the  events 
of  July  16th  18th  was  perfectly  definite.  On  the  one  hand 
there  was  the  fear  that  Petrograd  might  become  isolated 
from  the  more  backward  provinces ;  on  the  other  hand  there 
was  the  hope  that  an  active  and  energetic  intervention  of 
Petrograd  might  save  the  situation.  The  party  propagan- 
dists in  the  lower  ranks  went  hand  in  hand  with  the  masses 
and  carried  on  an  uncompromising  agitation. 

There  was  still  some  hope  that  a  demonstration  of  the 
revolutionary  masses  might  break  down  the  obstinate  doc- 
trinarism  of  the  Coalitionists  and  compel  them  to  realize 
at  last  that  they  could  only  maintain  themselves  in  power 
if  they  completely  broke  with  the  bourgeoisie.  Contrary 
to  what  was  said  and  written  at  the  time  in  the  bourgeois 
press,  there  was  no  intention  whatever  in  our  party  of  seiz- 
ing the  reins  of  power  by  means  of  an  armed  rising.  It 
was  only  a  revolutionary  demonstration  which  broke  out 
spontaneously,  though  guided  by  us  politically.  It  was 
from  the  front  that  troops  had  to  be  fetched.  The  entire 
July  days  was  to  gain  time  so  as  to  enable  Kerensky  to  draw 
strategy  of  Tseretelli,  Tchemov,  and  others,  during  those 
"reliable"  troops  into  Petrograd.  Delegation  after  delega- 
tion entered  the  Tauride  Palace,  which  was  surrounded  by 
a  huge  armed  crowd,  and  demanded  a  complete  break  with 
the  bourgeoisie,  energetic  measures  of  social  reform,  and 


172     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

the  commencement  of  peace  neorotiations.  We,  Bolsheviks, 
met  every  new  detachment  of  demonstrators,  either  in  the 
street  or  in  the  palace,  with  harangues,  calling  on  them  to 
be  calm,  and  assuring  them  that  with  the  masses  in  their 
present  mood  the  compromise-mongers  would  be  unable  to 
form  a  new  coalition  ministry.  The  men  of  Kronstadt  were 
particularly  determined,  and  it  was  only  with  difficulty 
that  we  could  keep  them  within  the  bounds  of  a  bare  demon- 
stration. On  July  17th  the  demonstration  assumed  a  still 
more  formidable  character — this  time  under  the  direct 
leadership  of  our  party. 

Among  the  factors  responsible  for  the  events  of 
July  16th  to  18th  the  following  should  be  taken  into 
consideration.  This  was  a  group  of  soldiers  forty 
years  old  and  over  who  were  anxious  to  get  back  to 
their  villages  in  time  for  the  harvest.  During  the 
meeting  of  the  Petrograd  Soviet  on  July  1st,  which 
took  place  in  the  A.lexandrinsky  Theater  and  at 
which  the  offensive  was  discussed,  a  great  crowd  of 
these  soldiers  came  to  the  theater  with  placards  on 
which  was  inscribed, ' '  The  army  needs  bread  as  well 
as  shells."  This  mob  demanded  that  they  be  sent 
home.  They  had  a  similar  demonstration,  which  was 
not  organized  by  any  party,  on  July  15th.  The  next 
day  a  delegation  of  thirty  of  these  soldiers  called  on 
Kerensky  and  behaved  in  a  most  insolent  manner 
during  their  interview.  At  the  same  time,  among 
the  troops  in  Petrograd  there  was  a  great  deal  of 
dissatisfaction  and  unrest.  When,  on  taking  up  the 
reins,  the  Provisional  Government  issued  its  declara- 
tion, the  seventh  clause  was  that  the  Petrograd  gar- 
rison, which  participated  in  the  Revolution,  should 
not  be  disarmed  and  should  remjiiii  in  Petrograd. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  ordoriuu:  of  the  machine- 


THE  JULY  RIOTS  173 

gun  regiment  to  the  front  has  connection  with  the 
fact  that  the  machine-gun  regiment  was  the  first  to 
come  out  on  the  streets  on  July  16th  and  that  it  sent 
delegates  to  other  regiments  and  to  factories  to  fo- 
ment a  demonstration.  Moreover,  the  soldiers  were 
roused  by  stories  of  the  regiments  which  were  dis- 
banded at  the  front  having  been  fired  on  and  whipped 
by  Cossacks. 

There  was  also  a  great  deal  of  discontent  among 
the  workingmen  in  Petrograd.  A  strike  broke  out 
in  the  Petrograd  post-office  on  July  16th,  the  day  of 
the  beginning  of  the  disorders.  There  was  a  strike 
in  the  Sormov  factory  and  a  strike  was  prevented  in 
the  Putilov  factory  only  by  the  efforts  of  the  trade 
unions. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
"GERMAN  AGENTS" 

THE  law-and-order  group,  finding  that  the  ideas 
of  the  Bolshevik  wing  of  the  Social-Democratic 
party  are  spreading  like  wildfire  among  the  factory- 
hands  and  the  soldiers,  make  now  a  most  determined 
attempt  to  hamstring  its  propaganda.  The  build- 
ings used  by  the  Bolsheviks  are  cut  off  from  tele- 
phone service.  The  district  headquarters  of  the  So- 
cial Democrats,  Mensheviks  as  well  as  Bolsheviks,  is 
raided.  The  furniture  is  smashed  and  the  funds  of 
the  party  are  seized.  Cossacks  descend  upon  the 
great  rifle  factory  at  Sestroretsk  near  Petrograd, 
arrest  the  factory  committee,  and  seize  a  thousand 
rifles  in  the  hands  of  the  workers.  On  July  25th 
the  Government  issues  an  order  reestablishing  cap- 
ital punishment  for  certain  military  offenses  at  the 
front.  Three  days  later  the  Bolshevik  organ 
Pravda  is  closed  and  its  edition  for  soldiers,  The 
Trench  Pravda,  is  suppressed.  The  commanders  of 
the  army  are  ordered  to  close  all  similar  newspapers. 
Finally  Trotsky,  Lunacharsky,  Kamenev  and  a  con- 
siderable number  of  their  followers  are  jailed. 
Madame  Kollontai  is  placed  under  domiciliary  ar- 
rest, while  the  only  reason  why  Lenin  and  Zinoviev 
are  not  put  under  lock  and  key  is  that  they  are  too 
clever  at  hiding. 

The  charge  against  them  is  of  having  instigated 
**  armed  action  against  the  authority  of  the  govern- 

174 


"GERMAN  AGENTS"  175 

ment  established  by  the  people."  However,  the  en- 
deavor to  fix  on  them  responsibility  for  the  July 
disorders  utterly  breaks  do^vn.  Their  cases  are 
never  even  brought  to  trial.  Kamenev  is  released 
on  August  17th,  Lunacharsky  on  August  21st,  while 
Trotsky  remains  in  jail  until  September  17th. 
Imagine  how  this  flash-in-the-pan  lends  weight  to 
the  Bolshevik  contention  that  the  masses  might  as 
well  hope  to  gather  figs  from  thistles  as  to  expect 
a  government  more  than  half  bourgeois  to  give  them 
the  economic  reforms  they  desire. 

The  charge  that  the  July  troubles  were  a  Bolshe- 
vik attempt  to  overthrow  the  Government  at  once 
finds  credence  among  the  propertied,  but  wins  no 
vogue  among  the  soldiers  and  proletarians,  who 
understand  very  well  what  the  Bolsheviks'  position 
is.  Far  more  serious  in  blackening  them  with  the 
masses  is  the  charge  that  they  are  on  the  pay-roll 
of  the  Kaiser. 

Bourtsev,  a  veteran  revolutionist,  famous  as  the 
unmasker  of  the  notorious  Okhrana  terrorist-spy 
Azev  in  the  Byecli  of  July  20th  declares : 

Comrades  arriving  from  Sweden  have  acquainted  us  with 
the  net  of  German  spies  which  exists  in  Stockholm,  Christ- 
iania,  Copenhagen,  and  Haparanda.  From  there  German 
agents  by  hundreds  are  being  sent  into  Russia  instructed 
to  agitate  for  a  peace  at  any  price,  to  stir  up  rebellions,  to 
carry  on  a  struggle  with  the  Provisional  Government,  and 
to  fan  the  class  struggle.  They  are  showered  with  German 
gold  for  these  purposes.  Those  bound  for  Russia  are  recom- 
mended to  go  hand  in  hand  with  the  Leninites,  to  join  their 
organization,  and  to  act  in  accordance  with  its  spirit.  The 
German  General  Staff,  according  to  the  words  of  its  own 


176     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIFv  REVOLUTION 

agents,  does  not  see  in  Russia  better  allies  for  itself  than  the 
Bolsheviks, 

In  Germany  from  the  very  beginning  of  the  war,  even 
before,  when  it  was  only  in  preparation,  the  German  Gov- 
ernment created  special  societies  to  work  against  the  Rus- 
sian Army  and  the  Russian  Government.  Among  other 
things  it  utilized  for  this  purpose  the  services  of  the  well- 
known  renegade  Parvus.  Member  of  the  Russian  Social- 
Democratic  party  yesterday,  to-day  he  has  become  the  zeal- 
ous executor  of  the  plans  of  the  German  Government  and 
its  General  Staff. 

His  activity  Parvus  sj^roads  everywhere:  in  Germany, 
Austria,  Italy,  Bulgaria,  Turkey.  Just  as  before  the  war, 
so  during  the  war,  he  everywhere  found  for  himself  willing 
and  active  assistants,  as  for  example,  the  former  member 
of  the  Second  Duma  Zurabov,  Perazich,  and  L.  Trotsky- 
all  three  of  whom  at  present  play  a  prominent  part  in  the 
Soviet  of  Workers'  and  Soldiers*  Delegates  in  Petrograd, 
also  of  Kolontai,  Koslovsky  .  .  .  and  many  others. 

Thanks  in  particular  to  Lenin,  Zinoviev,  Trotsky  et  al., 
during  these  accursed  daj's  of  July  16th  to  17th,  Wilhelm 
realized  his  hopes:  he  wrecked  our  war  loan,  he  brought 
mourning  into  hundreds  of  homes  in  Petrograd,  he  para- 
lyzed the  life  of  the  capital  and  by  doing  this  he  delivered 
a  blow  against  the  country  and  the  army. 

During  these  days  Lenin  with  his  comrades  cost  us  no 
less  than  a  good-sized  plague  or  cholera. 

Trotsky  promptly  counters  with  a  letter  in  Izves- 
tia  in  which  he  shows  that  he  himself  w^as  the  one 
who  first  exposed  to  Russian  Socialists  the  connec- 
tion of  Parvus  with  the  German  Government  and 
that  he  had  done  this  in  the  columns  of  a  Russian 
newspaper  as  early  as  November,  1914. 

Then  Alexinsky,  a  former  member  of  the  Duma, 


"GERMAN  AGENTS"  177 

prints  a  long  series  of  sixty-four  telegrams  between 
Eussian  Bolsheviks  and  their  confreres  in  Stockholm 
and  Christiania.  Most  of  these  are  obviously  of  the 
most  innocent  character,  since  they  relate  co  per- 
sonal and  party  matters.  Much  is  sought  to  be  made 
of  telegrams  sent  by  one  Ganetzky  (Fiirstenberg) 
a  Polish  Socialist  in  Stockholm,  who  was  maintaining 
a  personal  and  political  telegraphic  correspondence 
with  Lenin  and  other  Bolshevik  leaders,  to  a  Mrs. 
Sumenson  in  Petrograd.  They  press  for  payment 
for  consignments  of  drugs,  Nestle 's  Food,  pencils, 
etc.  These  commercial  "wires"  may  cover  a  dark 
plot,  but  it  is  noteworthy  that  in  them  it  is  always 
a  case  of  getting  money  out  of  Bussia  instead  of  get- 
ting mone}^  into  Russia,  as  would  certainly  be  the 
case  if  the  Bolshevik  leaders  are  being  paid  by  the 
German  Government. 

The  Army  Intelligence  secured  on  May  11th  a 
statement  from  an  ensign  of  a  Siberian  regiment, 
Yermolenko  by  name.  He  testifies  that  he  was  re- 
leased from  a  German  prison  camp  on  condition  of 
propagating  the  idea  of  an  early  peace  with  Ger- 
many among  the  soldiers  of  the  Russian  ifront;, 
Officers  of  the  German  general  staff  informed  him 
that  a  like  propaganda  is  being  carried  on  by  Lenin, 
who  is  under  instructions  to  undermine  the  confi- 
dence of  the  Russian  people  in  the  Provisional  Gov- 
ernment. 

On  the  afternoon  of  July  17th  Pereverzev,  Min- 
ister of  Justice,  communicates  to  eighty  delegates  of 
the  Petrograd  military  units  this  and  other  docu- 
ments in  his  possession  which  appear  to  incriminate 
the  Bolshevik  leaders,  and  then  turns  them  over  to 


178     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

the  press.  He  requests  the  soldier  delegates  to  tell 
their  regiments  about  the  contents  of  the  documents. 
In  his  later  exculpatory  letter  he  says : 

I  realized  that  the  publication  of  this  information  was 
certain  to  create  in  the  soldiers  of  the  garrison  a  state  of 
mind  which  wonld  oblige  them  to  abandon  their  attitude 
of  neutrality.  In  throwing  ag:ainst  the  rebels  all  the  troops 
of  Petrograd  who  had  not  joined  in  the  rebellion,  in  inspir- 
ing them  with  the  fury  which  is  necessary  to  a  battle  to  the 
death,  I  saw  the  means  of  saving  the  situation. 

The  bold  step  of  the  minister  had  an  effect  in 
rallying  the  soldiers  to  the  side  of  the  Provisional 
Government.  For  the  moment  the  blackening  of 
the  character  of  Lenin  and  Trotsky  was  successful. 
The  Soviet,  however,  was  furious,  the  other  min- 
isters were  disgusted  with  the  hasty  publication  of 
unverified  statements  and  by  noon  of  the  next  day 
Prince  Lvov  required  the  resignation  of  Pereverzev. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Zaroudny,  who  at  first,  under 
impulsion  from  his  subordinates,  proceeded  against 
the  Bolshevik  leaders  with  much  energy,  but  later 
was  obliged  to  let  the  cases  drop  because  nothing 
incriminating  could  be  found.  At  first  the  political 
opponents  of  the  Bolsheviks  in  the  Soviets  supported 
the  prosecutions.  The  Central  Executive  Commit- 
tee and  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Peasants* 
Soviets  a  week  after  the  riots  resolved  that: 

Whereas,  the  Bolshevik  organizations  have  carried  on 
among  the  soldiers  and  workers  an  irresponsible  demagogic 
agitation,  which  ended  by  an  open  rebellion  against  the 
will  of  the  revolutionary  majority,  aiding  by  this  in  the 


"GERMAN  AGENTS"  179 

creation  of  civil  war  and  counter-revolution  within  the 
country  and  defeat  at  the  front ;  and  that  such  actions  are 
a  crime  against  the  people  and  the  revolution  .  .  . 

We  consider  tJiat  Lenin  and  Zinoviev  have  absolutely  no 
right  to  evade  trial  and  we  demand  from  the  Bolsheviks  an 
immediate  categorical  condemnation  of  such  behavior  of 
their  leaders. 

Lenin  and  Zinoviev  publish  in  reply  a  letter  in 
which  they  say  in  substance : 

Pereverzev  openly  admits  that  he  let  loose  unconfirmed 
charges  in  order  to  "raise  the  fury"  of  the  soldiers  against 
our  party.  Pereverzev  is  out,  but  who  will  guarantee  that 
the  new  Minister  of  Justice  will  not  stoop  to  like  methods? 

Tiie  counter-revolutionary  bourgeoisie  is  attempting  to 
create  a  new  Dreyfus  case.  It  believes  just  as  much  in  our 
"espionage"  as  the  leaders  of  the  Russian  reaction  who 
created  the  Beylis  case  believed  that  the  Jews  drink  chil- 
dren's blood.  There  are  no  guarantees  of  justice  in  Russia 
at  the  present  moment. 

Within  a  fortnight  it  became  apparent  that  the 
case  against  the  Bolshevik  leaders  was  a  "frame 
up"  and  protests  began  to  appear.  On  August  9th 
Izvestia,  although  under  Menshevik  and  S.-R.  con- 
trol, said: 

Repressions,  arrests,  searches  are  taking  place. 

This  repressive  activity  until  now  has  been  too  little  di- 
rected toward  the  Right,  where  in  everybody's  view  is  rip- 
ening a  counter-revolutionary  conspiracy,  and  it  has  seized 
in  a  most  arbitrary  manner  victims  of  the  Left,  interpreting 
participation  in  the  organization  of  the  rebellion  of  July 
16th  to  18th  in  the  broadest  possible  sense.     We  could  cite 


180     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

a  long  liist  of  names  of  individuals  on  the  Left,  whose  ar- 
rest, in  the  eyes  of  the  widest  masses  of  the  workers',  sol- 
diers', and  peasants'  democracy,  is  nothing  but  an  act  of 
political  vengeance.  At  the  same  time  there  are  individuals 
of  the  Right,  known  lackeys  of  the  old  regime,  known  con- 
spirators against  the  Revolution,  who  are  not  only  at  liberty 
but  are  proudly  posing  as  new  saviors  of  the  Fatherland, 
and  are  besmirching  with  mud  everything  that  is  honest  in 
revolutionary  Russia. 

The  government  has  found  and  is  finding  sufficient  force 
to  suppress  that  press  of  the  Left,  which,  in  the  name  of 
the  salvation  of  the  country,  it  finds  harmful  during 
tlie  present  exceptional  time.  But  the  Narodnaya  Gazeta, 
Zhivoye  Slovo,  and  tlieir  ilk,  dirty  sheets  from  day  to  day 
sowing  lies  and  slanders  and  openly  undermining  the  new- 
born revolutionary  authority, — why  are  these  organs  of 
political  swindle  and  counter-revolutionary  conspiracy  al- 
lowed to  publish  articles  which  are  blows  against  revolu- 
tionary Russia?  .  .  . 

By  the  middle  of  August  the  revulsion  of  popular 
feeling  was  so  evident  that  Tseretelli,  lately  Minis- 
ter of  Posts  and  Telegraphs,  said  before  the  Cen- 
tral Executive  Committee:  ''The  wholesale  charges 
against  all  participants  in  the  events  of  July  16th 
to  18th  of  being  German  spies,  and  moving  to  the 
second  place  the  unquestionable  crime — a  rebellion 
against  the  revolutionary  organs  of  authority,  this 
is  a  great  mistake." 

Henceforth,  it  is  only  outside  of  Eussia  that  intel- 
ligent men  believe  that  the  Bolshevik  leaders  are 
German  agents.^  In  many  conversations  I  held  with 
Eussian  bourgeoisie  in  the  autumn  and  ^dnter  of 

1  The  questions  raised  later  by  the  famous  "Sisson  Documents"  will 
lie  considered  in  a  sulisecjuent  vohmie. 


"GERMAN  AGENTS"  181 

1917  these  charges  were  often  mentioned  by  them, 
but  when  I  asked  the  question,  *'Do  you  believe  that 
Lenin  and  Trotsky  are  German  agents?"  I  never 
once  obtained  an  affirmative  reply. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
KERENSKY 

ON  July  14th  the  Cadet  members  resigned  from 
the  Provisional  Government,  alleging  that  they 
could  not  approve  the  conceding  of  an  autonomous 
government  to  the  Ukraine.  However,  as  Prince 
Lvov  admitted  to  newspaper  men  two  days  later, 
"The  Ukrainian  problem  is  only  an  excuse,  the  real 
cause  [of  resignation]  must  be  sought  deeper, — in 
the  differences  of  points  of  view  between  the  social- 
ists and  the  bourgeois." 

The  retirement  of  the  Cadets  together  with  the 
riots  in  Petrograd  July  16th  to  18th  led  the  Provi- 
sional Government  on  July  20th  to  vote  to  carry  out 
the  program  proposed  by  the  socialist  ministers. 
The  chief  feature  of  this  program  was  the  taking  of 
the  land  from  the  gentry  without  compensation. 
The  bills  introduced  by  Tchernov,  Minister  of  Agri- 
culture, did  not  contemplate  that  the  land  should  be 
made  over  to  the  peasants,  but  that  henceforth  its 
title  should  bo  vested  in  the  nation.  Only  the  right 
of  use  was  granted  to  the  peasant;  as  soon  as  he 
ceased  to  till  it  in  person  he  lost  all  right  in  it. 

Prince  Lvov,  who  would  not  countenance  this  at- 
tack upon  the  property  rights  of  the  class  to  which 
he  belonged,  resigned  the  next  day,  alleging  that 
he  could  not  accept  Tchernov 's  land  proposals. 
Kerenskv,  who  until  the  May  crisis  had  been  Min- 

182 


KERENSKY  183 

ister  of  Justice  and  since  then  Minister  of  War, 
undertook  to  form  a  new  government.  The  de- 
velopment of  suspicion  and  hostility  between  the 
propertied  and  the  working  people  made  his  task 
well-nigh  insuperable.  Astrov,  Kishkin,  and  Nabu- 
kov,  members  of  the  Cadet  party  who  were  invited 
by  Kerensky  to  take  portfolios,  joined  in  a  letter  in 
which  they  laid  down  the  conditions  of  their  enter- 
ing the  Cabinet.  No  ministers  should  be  respon- 
sible to  the  Soviets.  No  committees  should  interfere 
in  the  business  of  government.  "Dual  authority" 
should  be  abolished  and  a  decisive  struggle  should 
be  carried  on  with  ''anarchistic  elements."  All  re- 
form of  the  system  of  government  should  be  left  to 
the  Constituent  Assembly.  There  should  be  abso- 
lute unity  with  the  Allies  in  the  war  and  strict  dis- 
cipline should  be  introduced  into  the  army. 

Kerensky  replied  reassuringly  and  on  August  6th 
the  ''Save  the  Revolution"  Government  was 
launched.  It  included  the  Social  Revolutionaries 
Kerensky,  Savinkov,  Lebedev,  Avksentiev  and 
Tchernov;  the  Social  Democrats  Skobelev,  Nikitin, 
and  Prokopovich;  the  Socialist-Populist  Peshek- 
hanov;  the  Cadets  Kokoshkin,  Oldenburg,  Yurienev, 
and  Kartashev;  the  Radical  Efremov,  and  three  In- 
dependents, Zaroudny,  Tereshchenko,  and  Nekrassov. 

Here,  perhaps,  is  the  place  to  consider  the  char- 
acter and  role  of  the  man  who  more  than  any  other 
embodied  the  ideals  of  the  first  Russian  Revolution 
and  who,  for  two  or  three  months  in  1917,  was  the 
most  conspicuous  personage  in  Russia. 

Alexander  Feodorovitch  Kerensky  was  born 
thirty-six  years  before  the  Revolution,  in  Simbirsk, 


184     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

one  of  the  Volga  towns.  His  father  was  principal 
of  the  secondary  school  in  which  the  two  Oulianovs 
— Lenin  and  his  elder  brother  Alexander — studied. 
Although  but  five  years  old  at  the  time,  he  vibrated 
to  the  feeling  of  horror  and  dismay  which  swept 
through  the  town  when  news  came  of  the  hanging  of 
Alexander  for  conspiring  to  assassinate  the  most 
reactionary  of  tsars. 

In  1889  the  father,  probably  on  account  of  his 
political  liberalism,  was  transferred  from  Simbirsk 
to  Tashkent,  so  that  the  lad  was  prepared  for  the 
university  in  the  chief  city  of  Turkestan.  Between 
1898  and  1904  Kerensky  studied  law  in  Petrograd 
and  became  an  ardent  champion  of  the  ideas  of  the 
Social  Revolutionary  party.  After  he  took  up  the 
practice  of  law  he  had  much  to  do  with  the  defense 
of  the  radical  members  of  the  Dumas,  whom  the 
Government  wished  to  send  to  Siberia. 

His  success  in  the  courts  gave  him  a  name  for 
courage  and  eloquence  in  defense  of  advanced  ideas 
so  that  in  1913  at  the  age  of  thirty-two  he  was  elected 
to  the  Fourth  Duma  from  one  of  the  towns  in  the 
province  of  Saratov.  The  Socialist  parties  being 
illegal,  he  and  ten  others  of  his  party  took  the  name 
of  Laborites  {Troudoviki  or  Group  of  Toil),  whose 
ostensible  policy  was  to  better  the  lot  of  the  workers 
on  the  economic  side  only.  Ere  long  he  captained 
the  group  and  became  known  as  a  powerful  debater. 
He  spoke  passionately,  pouring  out  a  torrent  of  in- 
vective at  the  top  of  his  voice,  and  accompanying 
it  with  violent  and  unrestrained  gestures.  Such 
speaking  exhausted  him  and  he  would  descend  from 
the  tribune  shaking  and  drenched  in  perspiration. 


KERENSKY  185 

No  one  could  accuse  him  of  want  of  daring.  On 
one  occasion  when  a  question  referring  to  a  political 
murder  was  being  discussed  Kerensky  rose  up  in 
the  ©uma  and  said :  '  ^  I  may  freely  express  my  opin- 
ion with  reference  to  the  question  under  debate, 
for  it  is  known  to  all  of  you  that  both  my  political 
convictions  and  the  principles  of  the  party  of  which 
I  am  a  member  recognize  the  right  of  using  terror 
as  a  political  weapon  against  our  enemies  in  author- 
ity and  justify  the  assassination  of  tyrants."  The 
railroading  of  the  Bolshevik  members  of  this  Duma 
to  Siberia  left  Kerensky  the  chief  spokesman  of  the 
factory  workers.  In  the  industrial  districts  "on  the 
Viborg  side"  of  the  Neva,  and  in  the  shipyards  and 
iron-works,  "AVhat  has  Alexander  Feodorovitch 
said?"  became  the  political  touchstone. 

From  a  certain  curious  document  we  obtain  a  very 
objective  idea  of  Kerensky 's  activities  and  aims  dur- 
ing a  calamitous  period  of  the  war.  Among  the 
Secret-Service  (Okhrana)  papers  brought  to  light 
by  the  Revolution  was  a  report  addressed  by  the 
head  of  the  Petrograd  branch  of  the  Okhrana  to  the 
Minister  of  the  Interior  in  August,  1915.     It  says: 

The  strikes  with  a  political  background  which  are  at 
present  occurring  among  the  workmen,  and  also  the  fer- 
ment among  them,  are  the  result  of  the  revolutionary  ac- 
tivity of  members  of  the  Social-Democratic  and  Labor 
parties  in  the  Duma,  and  especially  of  the  leader  of  the 
latter,  the  lawyer  Kerensky.  The  revolutionary  propa- 
ganda of  Kerensky  has  expressed  itself  in  the  watchword 
"Strusrgle  for  power  and  for  a  Constituent  Assembly," 
and  has  led  to  a  systematic  discrediting  of  the  Government 
in  the  eyes  of  the  masses.  To  ensure  the  success  of  their 
demands,  Kerensky  has  recommended  the  workmen  to  im- 


186     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

provise  factory  groups  for  the  formation  of  councils  of 
workers'  and  soldiers'  delegates  on  the  model  of  1905, 
with  the  object  of  impelling  the  movement  in  a  definite  di- 
rection, at  the  given  moment,  with  the  crj^  for  a  Constituent 
Assembly,  which  should  take  into  its  hands  the  defense  of 
the  country.  To  promote  this  agitation,  Kerensky  is  cir- 
culating among  the  workmen  rumors  that  he  is  receiving 
from  the  provinces  numerous  letters  demanding  that  he 
should  overthrow  the  Romanov  dynasty  and  take  its  power 
into  his  own  hand.^ 

Such  testimony  explains  the  success  with  which 
this  young  lawyer  rode  the  storm  during  the  historic 
days  of  the  Revolution.  His  role  in  this  crisis  was 
one  in  which  he  may  well  feel  pride.  As  to  this  I 
will  cite  certain  passages  by  Princess  Cantacuzene, 
granddaughter  of  General  Grant,  who  will  not  be  sus- 
pected of  bias  in  favor  of  a  revolutionist: 

Singing,  howling  mobs  of  workmen  and  regiments  of  sol- 
diers poured  into  the  Tauride  Palace  and  its  garden,  pur- 
porting to  be  friends  of  the  Duma;  but  their  wild  shouts 
and  violent  behavior  showed  them  to  be  unreliable  and 
highly  inflammable,  ready  for  anything. 

[Kerensky]  with  his  then  sincere  enthusiasm  undertook 
the  task  of  quelling  this  bedlam.  He  managed  to  do  so 
amazingly  well;  and  that  the  Duma  was  not  massacred,  it 
owed  to  his  eloquence.  Having  a  name  and  personality 
well  known  to  the  masses,  and  a  large  sense  of  patriotism 
also,  he  had  been  given  over  completely  to  the  mission  of 
handling  the  rabble.  Time  after  time,  during  fifty-two 
hours,  pale,  uncombed,  unshaved,  his  clothes  in  disorder,  he 
was  pushed  forward ;  and  he  shouted  and  gesticulated  him- 
self into  a  state  of  exhaustion.  He  always  finally  succeeded 
in  taming  those  whom  he  addressed.  Then  he  would  col- 
1  Wilcox,  Russia's  Ruin,  p.  192. 


KERENSKY  187 

lapse  with  fatigue  and  be  cared  for,  until  he  was  sufficiently 
restored  to  go  on  with  his  special  work  again.^ 

After  telling  how  Kerensky  saved  the  hated  tsar- 
ist ministers,  Soukhomlinov  and  Protopopov,  from 
being  torn  to  pieces  by  guaranteeing  that  these  men 
should  not  escape  punishment  for  their  crimes,  the 
princess  goes  on  to  say : 

Senators,  members  of  the  Council  of  the  Empire,  mem- 
bers of  the  ex-Court  and  the  Government,  about  two  hun- 
dred of  them,  lived  in  these  crowded  rooms  for  five  or  six 
long  days.  The  prisoners  were  kept  constantly  on  the  qui 
vive,  as  each  morning  and  evening  Kerensky  made  a  tour 
of  the  rooms,  chose  out  a  few  men  to  be  liberated,  and  a 
few  more  to  be  sent  to  the  Fortress.  At  one  side  of  the 
impromptu  prison  could  be  heard  the  discussions  and  the 
movements  of  the  Duma's  members;  while  from  the  other 
direction  came  the  roar  of  bedlam  let  loose,  for  in  the 
Catherine  Hall  the  deputations  of  soldiers  and  workmen 
held  forth — criticizing,  threatening,  acclaiming;  and  de- 
manding reports  of  all  that  was  being  done,  and  the  right 
to  veto  or  approve  every  measure  presented.  Many  times 
the  lives  of  all  occupants  of  the  palace  were  in  danger;  and 
always  the  situation  was  saved  by  Kerensky 's  eloquence 
and  his  clever  handling  of  his  clients.^ 

As  Minister  of  Justice  in  the  first  Lvov  Cabinet 
Kerensky  won  golden  opinions  by  his  patriotism, 
moderation,  and  lack  of  personal  vanity.  He  han- 
dled questions  concerned  with  the  ex-sovereigns  and 
members  of  the  old  regime  with  a  generosity  and 
dignity  that  won  praise  from  his  political  opponents. 
He  showed  himself  a  consummate  leader  of  his  own 

1  B evolutionary  Days,  p.  132. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  149. 


188     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

party  and  managed  its  unruly  elements  with  ex- 
traordinary skill.  He  uttered  the  noble  sentiment 
"The  Revolution  will  astound  the  world  by  its  mag- 
nanimity," and  did  his  best  to  make  it  true.  He 
abolished  the  death  penalt5\  The  refusal  to  appeal 
to  force  was,  in  fact,  the  most  characteristic  feature 
of  the  first  three  months  of  the  Revolution.  The 
Provisional  Government  reasoned  with  every  one 
whether  mutinous  soldier,  anarchist  workman,  or 
separatist  town. 

After  Kerensky  became  Minister  of  War  the  Revo- 
lution for  a  few  weeks  became  incarnate  in  this  one 
man.  He  gave  vivid  and  plangent  expression  to  all 
that  was  noble  and  idealistic  in  it.  He  became  the 
bearer  of  the  message  which  revolutionary  Russia 
seemed  seeking  to  communicate  to  humanity. 
Transfigured  by  the  vision  he  saw  and  filled  with 
faith  in  his  mission,  he  wrought  miracles  of  word- 
magic.  A  seasoned  Russian  journalist  whites  thus 
of  Kerensky 's  eloquence: 

Listening  to  him.  yon  feel  that  all  your  nerves  are  drawn 
toward  him  and  bonnd  together  with  his  nerves  in  one 
nexus.  It  seems  that  you  yourself  are  speaking;  that  on 
the  platform  it  is  not  Kerensky  but  you  who  are  facing  the 
crowd  and  dominating  its  thoughts  and  feelings;  that  it 
and  you  have  only  one  heart,  wide  as  the  world  and  as 
beautiful.  Kerensky  has  spoken  and  gone.  You  ask  your- 
self how  long  he  has  spoken — an  hour  or  three  minutes? 
On  your  honour  you  cannot  say,  for  time  and  space  had 
vanished.  .  .  .  When  he  stretches  out  his  hands  to  you — 
nervous,  supple,  fier5%  all  quivering  with  the  enthusiasm 
of  prayer  which  seizes  him — you  feel  that  he  touches  you, 


KERENSKY  189 

grasps  you  with  those  hands,  and  irresistibly  draws  you  to 
himself.^ 

As  in  June  he  moved  along  the  front,  endeavoring 
to  inspire  patriotism  and  fighting  spirit  in  the  Rus- 
sian troops,  his  passing  was  that  of  a  comet. 
Crowds  waited  for  hours  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  him. 
Soldiers  ran  for  miles  after  his  motor-car  in  the 
hope  of  shaking  his  hand  or  kissing  the  hem  of 
his  garment.  In  those  hectic  weeks  of  speaking 
before  the  men  in  uniform,  hectoring,  pleading,  argu- 
ing, he  labored  like  a  Titan  and  men  mar\^eled  that 
his  frail  body  could  stand  it  all. 

Although  for  reasons  already  sho\\m  the  Galician 
offensive,  which  began  so  brilliantly,  ended  in  disas- 
ter and  shame,  its  breakdown  casts  no  reflection  on 
the  power  of  Kerensky's  eloquence. 

Of  this  we  have  fullest  acknowledgment  in  the 
words  of  an  enemy.  Writing  some  time  after  the 
Tarnopol  setback,  a  German  journalist  declares  in 
the  Kolnische  Zeitung: 

In  what  we  hear  Kerensky  is  always  in  the  foreground. 
His  oratorical  gift  must  give  him  stupendous  power.  This 
frail  and  delicate  man  is  a  magician  in  words.  .  .  .  Sol- 
diers have  told  me  again  to-day,  but  I  had  heard  of  it  often 
enougli  before.  I  had  heard  it  from  the  people  of  the  oc- 
cupied Galician  territory,  who  had  seen  Kerensky  and 
listened  to  him  when  he  flung  his  fiery  speeches  into  the 
masses  of  soldiers  in  the  towns.  In  Tarnapol,  in  Kalusz, 
and  in  Stanislau  I  was  told  about  it.  The  statements  of 
the  front  soldiers,  who  saw  him  among  themselves,  close  be- 
hind the  positions,  nay,  in  the  front  trenches,  confirm  it; 
he  was  the  impulse  to  the  new  attack,  the  tireless  inciter, 

1  Cited  by  Wilcox  in  Russia's  Ruin,  p.  197. 


190     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

working  with  the  power  aud  sweep  of  his  word.  .  .  .  By 
the  power  of  this  one  man  .  .  .  and  by  comprehensive  and 
indefatigable  propaganda,  the  fighting  spirit  was  gener- 
ated.^ 

After  the  ghastly  Galician  debacle  Kerensky  was 
another  man.  Faith  in  himself  and  in  the  triumph 
of  his  ideas  was  gone.  No  longer  could  he  feel  that 
all  that  was  best  in  the  Revolution  was  following 
him.  To  rid  himself  of  the  Bolshevik  leaders  who 
were  rapidly  winning  over  the  urban  masses,  he  de- 
parted from  his  principles  by  reintroducing  admin- 
istrative arrests  and  deportations.  On  August  15th 
he  signed  a  decree  which  ''in  order  to  put  an  end 
to  the  activity  of  those  individuals  who  wish  to 
utilize  the  freedom  given  by  the  revolution  to  all 
citizens  only  for  the  purpose  of  doing  irreparable 
harm  to  the  cause  of  the  revolution  and  to  the  very 
existence  of  the  Russian  state"  gave  the  Minister 
of  War  and  the  Minister  of  Interior  the  discretion, 
by  mutual  agreement  between  them : 

(1)  To  order  the  placing  under  guard  individuals  whose 
activity  especially  threatens  the  defense  of  the  country,  its 
internal  safety,  and  the  freedom  won  by  the  revolution. 

(2)  To  order  individuals  mentioned  in  paragraph  No,  1 
to  leave  the  limits  of  the  Russian  State  within  a  definite 
period.  On  condition  of  non-departure  of  these  individuals 
or  their  wilful  return  they  are  to  be  confined  under  guard 
in  accordance  with  paragraph  No.  1  of  this  decree. 

This  measure,  coming  on  top  of  the  arrests  of 
Bolshevik  leaders  and  the  suppression  of  Bolshevik 
newspapers  after  the  July  riots,  cost  him  his  popu- 

1  Cited  by  Wilcox  in  Russia's  Ruin,  p.  202. 


KERENSKY  191 

larity  with  labor,  which  henceforth  regarded  him 
as  a  political  enemy  whom  it  would  be  justified  in 
overthrowing  at  the  first  opportunity.  Neverthe- 
less, he  did  not  start  early  enough  or  go  far  enough 
in  repression  to  gain  the  confidence  of  the  prop- 
ertied. 

In  this  national  crisis  Kerensky's  temper  and 
policies  were  such  as  to  appeal  to  a  middle  class, 
but,  alas,  there  was  as  yet  no  considerable  middle 
class  in  Russia.  So  all  the  propertied  and  most  of 
the  representatives  of  the  Allies  pinned  their  hopes 
to  Kornilov,  the  ^'strong  man,"  while  the  masses 
abandoned  him  for  Lenin  and  Trotsky,  who  promised 
to  give  them  at  once,  without  waiting  for  the  convo- 
cation of  the  Constituent  Assembly,  what  thej^  most 
longed  for — peace,  land,  and  bread.  When  the  test 
came  Kerensky  had  no  popularity  whatever. 

The  propertied  classes  of  Russia  hate  Kerensky 
because  he,  a  moderate  and  law-and-order  man,  let 
slip  by  the  golden  moment  when  there  was  still  a 
chance  for  a  coup  on  behalf  of  Property.  He  did 
nothing  to  gag  the  Bolshevik  leaders  until  it  was  too 
late.  He  restrained  the  reactionary  generals  from 
employing  the  still  ''reliable"  regiments  and  divi- 
sions to  dissolve  the  army  committees,  shoot  muti- 
neers, crush  the  Soviets,  disarm  the  workers,  put 
Petrograd  and  the  munition-factories  under  martial 
law,  and  decimate  the  peasants  who  were  swarming 
upon  the  estates  of  the  pomieshtchiks.  Perhaps  if 
these  things  had  been  done  in  May  the  proletarian 
revolution  might  have  been  averted.  But  two  or 
three  months  were  lost  and  then  it  was  too  late. 
The  process  of  decomposition  had  advanced  so  far 


192     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

that  in  Russia  there  was  left  no  formidable  obedi- 
ence-compelling power  save  the  will  of  the  politically 
conscious  section  of  the  common  people. 

The  time  came  when  even  Kerensky,  romanticist 
and  idealist,  awoke  to  the  realities  of  the  situation. 
In  the  course  of  the  last  interview  he  gave  as  Min- 
ister-President he  uttered  the  prophetic  words: 
"Remember,  this  is  not  a  political  revolution.  It  is 
not  like  the  French  Revolution.  It  is  an  economic 
revolution,  and  there  will  be  necessary  in  Russia  a 
profound  revaluation  of  classes.  And  it  is  a  very 
complicated  process  for  all  the  different  nationalities 
in  Russia.  Remember  that  the  French  Revolution 
took  five  years  and  that  France  is  the  size  of  one 
of  our  provincial  districts.  No,  the  Russian  Revo- 
lution is  not  over — it  is  just  beginning." 

"Society"  hated  Kerensky  for  "truckling"  to  the 
Soviets,  so  the  habitues  of  the  salons  set  afloat  all 
manner  of  malicious  gossip  about  his  mode  of  life 
in  the  Winter  Palace.  They  said  that  he  had  di- 
vorced his  wife  in  order  to  marry  an  actress.  They 
said  that  he  used  the  tsar's  carriages  and  motors, 
drank  his  champagne,  feasted  off  his  gold  plate,  and 
slept  in  his  bed.  They  said  that  he  kept  his  min- 
isters awake  there  by  singing  grand-opera  airs  at 
unseemly  hours,  that  in  conferences  he  was  some- 
times abrupt  and  irritable, — as  who  would  not  be 
who  was  on  the  verge  of  a  nervous  breakdown? 

The  Allied  diplomats  and  military  missions,  who 
absorbed  the  drawing-room  tea-table  talk  and  were 
interested  only  in  Russia's  fighting,  fell  in  with  this 
shallow  view  and  little  dreamed  that  the  man  was 
in  the  grasp  of  a  social  tornado. 


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Prime  Minister  of  the  Provisional  Government 


KERENSKY  193 

On  assuming  power,  Lenin  is  said  to  have  stated 
to  the  representative  of  the  Matin:  ''You  may  be 
sure  that,  whatever  may  be  the  vicissitudes  of  the 
struggle,  we  must  always  in  the  end  prove  the 
stronger,  because  boldness  is  on  our  side,  whereas 
Kerensky — "  here  Lenin  shrugged  his  shoulders 
disdainfully — "is  nobody.  He  has  never  done  any- 
thing and  he  is  always  vacillating.  He  was  a  par- 
tisan of  Kornilov  and  had  him  arrested.  He  was  an 
opponent  of  Trotsky  and  he  allowed  him  his  lib- 
erty." 

It  is  too  soon  yet  to  know  whether  or  not  this 
contemptuous  judgment  is  just.  Already  time  has 
shown  that  the  drawing-room  people  and  the  Allied 
diplomats  and  oflScers,  who  might  have  held  up 
Kerensky 's  government  until  the  Constituent  As- 
sembly met,  but  w^ho  were  all  for  Kornilov  whose 
ill-starred  attempt  turned  the  masses  to  Bolshevism, 
made  a  terrible  mistake.  It  may  be  that  time  will 
show  the  same  of  the  workers  and  soldiers  who 
abandoned  Kerensky  for  Lenin. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
GROWING  ANARCHY 

AFTER  the  dam  is  broken  it  is  not  long  before 
the  restrained  waters  are  in  motion.  Once 
the  powerful  centralized  organization  of  police  and 
Cossacks  under  the  Romanovs  has  been  shattered, 
the  long-curbed  desires  of  the  poverty-stricken  peas- 
ants for  the  land  they  have  been  tilling  for  the  lords, 
and  of  the  robbed  toilers  for  treatment  as  men,  give 
rise  to  headstrong  actions.  As  early  as  May  3d  the 
Assistant  Minister  of  the  Interior  calls  upon  provin- 
cial and  county  commissaries  to  report  daily  to  the 
Militia  (Police)  Department  on  the  following  sub- 
jects: Agrarian  disorders  and  all  kinds  of  violations 
of  landed  property  rights,  attempted  unlawful  ac- 
tions against  landowners  and  lessees,  unlawful  plow- 
ing, arson,  cutting  of  forests,  stealing  of  farm  im- 
plements, stealing  of  live  stock,  destruction  of  boun- 
dary lines,  etc. ;  about  all  kinds  of  disorders  in  the 
factories,  such  as  lock-outs  and  strikes,  with  reasons 
therefor,  violations  of  the  rights  of  the  workingmen 
or  the  employers-,  exceptional  cases  of  propaganda 
against  the  new  government  and  its  officials,  incit- 
ing of  one  part  of  the  population  against  another  on 
national,  religious,  or  party  grounds,  any  other  vio- 
lations of  public  order  committed  by  crowds,  cases 
in  which  the  local  authorities  of  the  new  government 
are  prevented  from  exercising  its  authority,  law- 
less actions  of  individuals  and  groups  such  as  arrests 

194 


GROWING  ANARCHY  195 

and  endeavors  to  prevent  the  liberation  of  those  ar- 
rested without  due  cause. 

The  commissaries  are  furthermore  instructed  to 
report  about  measures  taken  to  stop  such  violations. 

On  the  same  da}'  the  Minister-President,  Prince 
Lvov,  issues  to  the  Commissaries  of  the  provinces 
a  circular  order  which  clearly  reveals  the  growing 
difficulties  of  the  privileged  classes  in  asserting  their 
property  rights: 

The  Provisional  Government  has  lately  received  a  num- 
ber of  personal  statements  bj^  telegraph  regarding  the  ar- 
rests and  arbitrary  actions  of  certain  village  societies  and 
village  committees  which  prevent  the  landowners,  large  as 
well  as  small,  from  doing  their  duty  for  the  state  by  sowing 
their  lands.  As  I  cannot  tolerate  acts  of  violence  against 
individuals  and  the  wilful  solution  of  the  land  problem  by 
that  part  of  the  population  which  is  concerned  with  this 
problem,  it  is  herewith  suggested  to  you  that  through  the 
provincial  committees,  county  commissaries,  and  county  or- 
ganizations, you  arrange  to  notify  the  people  as  widely  as 
possible  as  to  the  wrongfulness  of  depriving  any  one  of 
liberty  save  by  order  of  a  court,  as  well  as  inform  them  of 
all  the  government  orders  relative  to  the  safeguarding  of 
all  food  supplies.  It  is  your  duty,  with  the  support  of  all 
the  organized  local  forces,  to  prevent  any  high-handed  de- 
cisions which  may  ruin  the  unity  which  is  necessary  for  the 
strengthening  of  the  new  state  order.  You  are  requested 
to  use  the  entire  force  of  the  law  in  order  to  stop  the  com- 
mission of  violence  or  robbery.  In  accordance  with  the 
numerous  instructions  that  you  are  the  chief  representative 
of  the  authority  of  the  Provisional  Government  in  the 
province,  you  are  authorized  to  use  all  measures  which  you, 
together  with  the  committee,  will  find  necessary. 

When  the  tsarist  machine  broke  down,  the  em- 


196     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

ployers  for  the  first  time  in  their  lives  found  them- 
selves without  any  means  of  coercing  their  men. 
You  still  could  telephone  to  the  police  station,  but 
the  new  chiefs  of  "militia"  soon  learned  not  to  fly 
in  the  face  of  the  local  soviet.  An  employer  said 
to  me  with  bitterness : 

*'The  commissary  who  represents  the  Central 
Government  here  is  a  former  school-teacher  and 
often  calls  upon  us  to  yield  this  or  that  point  4n 
the  interest  of  public  order'  or  'to  avert  grave  dis- 
turbances!' So  nowadays  we  don't  consider  what 
are  our  legal  rights ;  we  consider  only  how  to  avoid 
trouble." 

Arthur  Bullard  tells  of  a  paper  manufacturer  he 
met  for  whom  the  Revolution  was  summed  up  vividly 
in  one  incident : 

The  newly  formed  "Shop  Committee"  in  his  works  in- 
vaded his  luxuriously  furnished  private  office  one  morning 
and  told  hira  to  get  out.  They  wanted  to  hold  a  meeting 
there.  They  made  themselves  at  ease  in  his  sanctum,  they 
trampled  with  their  heavy  boots  on  his  choice  Bokhara 
rug — they  even  spat  on  it.  The  thing  which  impressed  him 
most  was  that  they  had  lost  fear  of  him.^ 

Late  in  May,  Kutler,  the  great  manufacturer, 
speaking  at  a  national  convention  of  the  Cadet 
party,  laid  the  palpable  disorganization  of  produc- 
tion to  the  excesses  committed  by  the  workers 
against  the  factory  administration.     He  said: 

It  is  necessary  to  note  the  mass  removal  of  individuals 
who  were  at  the  head  of  industrial  enterprises,  directors, 
and  managers  of  shops  and  factories.     How  great  this  re- 

1  The  Russian  PendvJum,  p.  74. 


GROWING  ANARCHY  197 

moval  is  can  be  seen,  for  instance,  from  the  Ural  mining 
industry,  where  there  exist  over  twenty  large  mining-plants. 
At  the  present  time  in  these  plants  there  remain  only  four 
managers  who  have  not  been  removed.  This  removal  of 
managers  is  taking  place  also  in  the  oil-industry,  and  I 
received  only  to-day  information  that  this  removal  is  be- 
coming a  general  rule.  The  same  is  widely  practised  in 
other  localities,  in  Petrograd,  in  Moscow,  in  the  South,  and 
throughout  the  country  in  general.  Together  with  the  re- 
moval of  individuals  managing  the  business,  there  are  also 
mass  removals  of  secondary  technicians,  engineers,  fore- 
men, etc.,  who  are  sometimes  not  replaced  and  sometimes 
replaced  through  selection,  by  the  workers,  of  individuals 
not  equal  to  the  job.  As  for  the  undisturbed  members 
of  the  factory  administration,  they  have  lost  all  their  in- 
fluence, all  their  authority  over  the  workers.  The  slightest 
reproof,  the  slightest  complaint  that  the  work  is  not  done 
right  leads  to  threats  and  violence.  As  a  result,  discipline 
and  order  in  the  factories  are  disappearing. 

An  article  in  the  Izvestia  of  June  13th  declares : 

...  All  the  villages  are  in  a  state  of  fermentation,  there 
are  no  uniform  established  relations.  In  some  places  the 
peasants  help  themselves  to  the  land  of  the  proprietors,  they 
take  off  war  prisoners  and  other  workers  employed  on 
estates,  and  they  seize  the  equipment ;  in  other  places  the 
proprietors  continue  charging  the  peasants  an  absurdly  ex- 
orbitant rental  for  ploughland  and  meadows,  and  by  so 
doing  embitter  yet  more  the  relations  between  themselves 
and  the  peasants  .  .  . 

.  .  .  Occasions  are  not  rare  when  the  village  committees 
are  controlled  by  elements  of  anarchic  inclinations,  who  egg 
on  the  peasants  to  seize  the  nobleman's  land,  without  wait- 
ing for  the  Constituent  Assembly,  to  take  the  workers  away 
from  the  estates,  to  take  away  from  the  noblemen  their  live 


198      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

stock,   machinery   and   tools,  to  cut  their  forests,  and  to 
forage  in  their  fields.  ... 

Why  were  these  things  occurring?  It  is  the  fash- 
ion to  lay  them  to  the  baleful  influence  of  agitators, 
either  fanatics  or  German  agents,  who  stirred  up 
the  peasants  to  sully  the  fair  fame  of  the  most  gen- 
tlemanly Revolution  in  all  history.  Thus  Mrs.  Wil- 
liams considers  the  growth  of  disregard  for  the 
pomieshtchik's  property  rights  not  as  something  to 
be  expected  of  people  who  had  experienced  what  the 
Russian  peasants  had  experienced,  but  as  the  product 
of  Socialist  agitators.     She  writes: 

The  masses  seemed  to  feel  that  they  were  being  driven  to 
a  dangerous  course  and  did  not  give  way  at  once.  Even  in 
the  country,  where,  as  in  the  towns,  all  the  police  were 
immediately  arrested  and  sent  to  the  front,  where  no  new 
authorities  were  established  to  replace  the  old,  the  peasants 
at  first  assumed  an  expectant  attitude.  The  expression, 
"We  '11  just  wait  for  the  new  Law,"  was  a  current  phrase, 
which  reflected  the  peasants'  habitual  wariness.  And  they 
actually  did  wait.  They  cast  longing  glances  at  the  land- 
owners' land,  cattle  and  other  goods,  but  abstained  from 
plunder,  awaiting  the  order  from  the  Centre. 

Then  appeared  agitators,  sometimes  Bolsheviks,  but  more 
often  Social-Revolutionaries,  with  mandates  from  the  Pet- 
rograd  or  local  Soviet,  and  explained  to  the  peasants  that 
they  had  nothing  to  wait  for,  but  must  hasten  to  execute 
the  will  of  the  people  and  "expropriate  the  expropriators," 
that  is,  take  everything  from  the  landowners. 

It  was  just  as  difficult  for  peasants  to  withstand  such 
arguments  as  it  had  been  for  soldiers  to  maintain  discipline 
after  the  Order  Na  1.  Gradually  the  Russian  country- 
side was  turned  into  a  veritable  hell.     Landowners'  houses, 


GROWING  ANARCHY  199 

corn-stacks,  stables,  cattlesheds— all  were  set  ablaze.  Their 
owners  were  turned  out,  sometimes  murdered.  Already, 
before  the  November  Revolution,  some  districts  had  not 
a  single  landowner  left.^ 

This  does  not  seem  to  be  a  correct  interpretation 
of  what  occurred.  The  Social  Revolutionary  party, 
which  supported  the  Provisional  Government  and 
did  not  wish  to  see  it  set  at  naught,  never  urged  the 
off-hand  anarchic  seizure  of  estates.  Its  policy  was 
to  restrain  the  peasants  until  a  general  settlement  of 
the  land  question  should  be  promulgated.  It  was, 
then,  not  the  incitement  of  Social-Revolutionary  agi- 
tators which  stirred  up  the  peasants  to  seizures,  but 
the  delay  in  dealing  with  the  land,  the  cutting  and 
sale  of  timber  by  land-owners,  and  the  rumors  of  the 
sale  of  estates  to  foreigners,  who  in  any  case  would 
have  to  be  compensated  if  the  land  were  to  be  taken 
for  the  peasants.  In  his  letter  of  resignation  on 
July  20th  Prince  Lvov  reveals  the  alarm  of  the  noble- 
men regarding  what  was  going  on.  He  complains 
that  the  Minister  of  Agriculture  (Tchernov)  "does 
not  combat  the  tendencies  to  seize  land,  does  not 
regulate  the  agrarian  relations,  but  seemingly  justi- 
fies the  highhanded  seizures  of  land  which  are  taking 
place  all  over  Russia,  legalizes  these  seizures  and,  so 
far  as  the  land  problem  is  concerned,  aims  to  con- 
front the  Constituent  Assembly  with  an  accom- 
plished fact." 

As  the  summer  passed  and  the  Coalition  Govern- 
ment, impotent  for  domestic  reform  by  its  solicitude 
for  the  war  and  by  its  endeavor  to  be  loyal  to  op- 

1  From  Liberty  to  Brest  Lttovsk,  p.  195. 


200     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

posed  social  classes,  did  nothing,  the  country  fell 
into  uproar.  Izvestia  observes  on  October  16th,  in 
an  article  headed  '  *  A  Wave  of  Riots '  ^ : 

Daily  newspapers  bring  a  long  list  of  tales  about  riots. 
Riots  are  made  in  cities  and  villages.  Stores  and  land- 
owners'  storehouses  are  being  looted.  They  are  burning, 
looting,  and  raping. 

These  ugly  riots  arise  because  of  the  dissatisfaction  of 
the  wide  masses  of  the  people  with  their  condition :  peace 
did  not  come  as  soon  as  we  expected ;  bread  did  not  get 
cheaper;  there  still  is  no  clothing,  footwear,  agricultural 
implements.  ..." 

A  fortnight  later,  before  the  Council  of  the  Re- 
public, the  Minister  of  Provisioning  confesses  that 
*' anarchy  is  prevailing  throughout  the  country." 
Of  the  eight  thousand  tons  of  grain  shipped  to  Pet- 
rograd  by  water  half  was  held  up  on  the  way  and 
looted.  He  reads  telegrams  explaining  why  the 
grain  is  not  coming  through  to  the  army  and  the 
cities.  From  Cherepovetz:  **  Loads  of  grain  on 
the  56th  and  103d  versts  above  Rybinsk.  The  peas- 
ants who  live  along  the  shore  are  looting,  soldiers 
cannot  stop  them,  we  request  that  measures  be  taken 
to  save  the  freight."  From  the  Olonetz  Food  Com- 
mittee: ''Armed  peasants  have  looted  1,120,000 
poods  [22,400  tons]  of  flour.  ,  Soldiers  refuse  to  take 
the  flour  from  the  peasants.  Please  take  measures 
against  anarchy."  He  reports  the  receipt  of  sim- 
ilar telegrams  from  Petrozavodsk  and  Bielozersk. 
He  declares: 

.  .  .  Just  as  it  is  impossible  to  carry  on  a  war  when 
there  is  no  discipline,  so  the  provisioning  problem  cannot 


GROWING  ANARCHY  201 

be  solved  when  civil  war  is  spreading  throughout  the  coun- 
try. Grain  is  produced  by  one  class  and  is  needed  by  an- 
other. It  will  be  furnished  only  when  one  class  supports 
another.  But  we  have  no  such  support,  and  grain  is  re- 
fused not  only  to  the  cities  but  also  to  the  army.  Besides 
this,  some  delegates  from  the  army,  which  were  sent  to  the 
villages  as  agitators,  started  their  agitation  as  follows: 
"Brother  peasants,  do  not  furnish  any  grain,  then  the 
war  will  end  sooner." 

The  provisioning  of  the  city  population  is  in  a  still  worse 
condition.  Everywhere  the  peasants  say:  "We  will  not 
give  any  grain  to  the  cities  and  to  the  workers."  You  see 
that  anarchy  and  civil  war  are  fatal  to  the  provisioning 
work. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  minister  of  the 
Provisional  Government  recommends,  as  the  proper 
means  of  overcoming  the  natural  reluctance  of  the 
peasants  to  give  up  their  grain  without  an  equivalent, 
the  measure  which  later  the  Bolshevik  Government 
used  and  which  is  often  presented  as  a  diabolical 
contrivance  of  the  Bolsheviks,  viz.,  the  requisition- 
ing of  grain  by  commissaries  backed  by  detachments 
of  soldiers. 

Not  only  was  law  feeble  as  against  the  will  of 
masses,  but  months  before  it  vanished  from  the  scene 
the  Provisional  Government  was  powerless  against 
the  local  soviet  of  workers'  and  soldiers'  delegates. 
Thus  when  in  July  the  American  Red  Cross  Mission 
was  coming  in  via  ihe  Trans-Siberian  Railroad,  it 
was  stopped  and  examined  at  Chita  at  the  instance 
of  the  Chita  soviet.  Then  there  was  a  soviet  at 
Krasnoyarsk  which  had  already  become  Bolshevik 
and  which,  it  was  rumored,  intended  to  halt  the  train ; 


202     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

so  the  train  dashed  through  Krasnoyarsk  in  the 
early  morning  without  stopping.  All  this  despite 
the  strongest  credentials  from  the  Kerensky  Govern- 
ment. 

In  August  Colonel  Raymond  Robins  of  the  Red 
Cross  was  in  southern  Russia  looking  after  the  needs 
of  war  refugees.  He  found  in  Ekaterinoslav  and 
Kharkov  that  the  local  soviet  was  the  real  master. 
When  he  wanted  anything  done  he  had  to  see  the 
soviet  officials.  His  pockets  were  full  of  the  strong- 
est authorizations  from  the  Government  at  Petro- 
grad,  but  here  they  were  only  "stage  money."  It 
was  from  the  Soviets,  not  from  the  regular  authori- 
ties, that  he  got  trains  and  farm  wagons  for  carry- 
ing his  supplies.  And  if  they  said  he  could  not  have 
them  he  did  not  got  them. 

The  reader  is  not  to  suppose  that  the  Provisional 
Government  started  with  a  clear  field  and  full  au- 
thority and  that  the  Soviets,  growing  jealous,  gradu- 
ally encroached  upon  its  field  and  whittled  away  its 
authority.  The  truth  is  that  the  Soviets  sprang  up 
as  early  as  the  Provisional  Government  and  among 
the  masses  the  latter  never  had  any  power  as  against 
fhe  will  of  the  Soviets.  For  some  months  tho  real- 
ities of  the  situation  did  not  appear  nnkodly,  simply 
because  the  Soviets  were  Menshevik  in  leadership 
and  disposed,  therefore,  to  cooperate  with  the  Pro- 
visional Government  and  with  the  Allies.  As  tlie 
Soviets  lost  confidence  in  the  Allies  because  of  their 
failure  to  restate  their  war  aims  in  hnrmony  with 
the  ideals  of  Russian  democracy  and  in  the  Provi- 
sional Government  because  of  its  neglect  of  do- 
mestic reforms,   they  would  not   longer   cooperate 


GROWING  ANARCHY  203 

and  thereupon  it  became  evident  who  was  really  mas- 
ter in  the  Russian  land.  With  their  slogan  "All 
Power  to  the  Soviets!"  Lenin  and  Trotsky  were  not 
so  much  urging  the  thing  that  ought  to  be  as  stating 
the  thing  that  actually  was. 


CHAPTER  XIX 
CITY  ELECTIONS 

IN  Russia  the  bestowal  of  universal  suffrage  finds 
innumerable  "dark"  minds  as  yet  quite  unfur- 
nished with  any  ideas  whatever  upon  public  ques- 
tions. Either  they  are  not  even  aware  of  the  exist- 
ence of  these  questions,  or  else  they  have  not  been 
able  to  arrive  at  opinions  about  them.  Called  upon, 
now,  to  combine  for  representation  in  the  municipal 
dumas  (city  councils)  which  are  being  elected  all 
over  Russia  in  the  summer  of  1917,  these  inexperi- 
enced citizens  are  apt  to  gather  not  into  true  politi- 
cal parties  but  into  groups  formed  on  the  lines  of 
common  nationality,  religion,  or  economic  interest. 
Hence,  besides  the  candidates  of  genuine  parties 
we  come  upon  candidates  appealing  only  to  those 
of  a  certain  nationality,  e.  g.,  Ukrainians,  Esthon- 
ians,  Letts,  Armenians,  and  Jews.  Such  a  group, 
however,  will  by  no  means  march  always  under  one 
banner.  In  some  cities  there  will  be  a  Ukrainian 
National  Bloc,  a  Ukrainian  Socialist  Bloc,  perhaps 
even  a  Ukrainian  Hromada  (mass).  Tickets  will  be 
put  up  by  the  Jewish  Democracy,  the  Jewish 
National  Bloc,  the  Jewish  Community,  and  the 
Zionists.  If  a  Lett  does  not  care  to  vote  for  the  can- 
didates named  by  the  Lettish  Social  Democrats,  per- 
haps his  ballot  will  be  claimed  by  an  organization 
calling  itself  'Must  Letts." 

204 


CITY  ELECTIONS  205 

There  are  even  cases  in  which  Lutherans  or  Mus- 
sulmans as  such  seek  representation  in  the  city 
duma. 

Queerest  of  all,  however,  are  certain  groupings  by 
occupation  or  property  interest.  In  Novgorod- 
Volinsk  the  Merchants  and  Manufacturers,  the  Com- 
mittee for  Aiding  the  Families  of  Reservists,  and 
the  Torbush  (Culture)  Society  nominate  their  re- 
spective tickets  for  its  duma.  And  then  quite  seri- 
ously the  "Residents  of  Zhitomirskaya  Street" 
name  a  man  and  later  elect  him.  Sterlitamak  is  no 
larger  than  an  ordinary  American  county-seat  town, 
but  let  no  one  suppose  its  duma  will  be  monochrome. 
Seven  of  its  members  represent  the  Mussulman 
Bureau  of  House-Owners  and  Apartmen.t-tenants, 
two  speak  for  the  Mussulman  House-Owners  (Is  it 
the  houses  that  are  different?),  one  for  the  Women's 
Democratic  Union,  and  one  for  the  Union  of  City 
Employees ! 

In  Yalutorovsk  there  are  three  tickets:  (1) 
House-owners,  (2)  House-owTiers  (another  organ- 
ization), (3)  a  "Bloc"  composed  of  (a)  the  Union 
of  Commercial-Industrial  Employees,  (b)  the  Soviet 
of  Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Delegates,  and  (c)  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Union  of  Teachers  and 
Tchinovniks. 

In  Ekaterinburg  a  disciple  of  Mahomet  who  owns 
his  home  and  leans  toward  socialism  must  surely  be 
torn  by  conflicting  emotions  when  he  is  confronted 
by  the  rival  tickets  of  Mussulmans,  House-owners, 
and  Menshevik  Social  Democrats. 

In  Tsaritzuin,  besides  the  genuine  political  par- 
ties, there  participate  in  the  electoral  battle  organ- 


206     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

ized  House-owTiers,  Merchants,  Priests,  Mussulmans, 
Lutherans,  and  Jews. 

Thanks  to  political  inexperience,  the  citizens  do 
not  cohere  into  two  or  three  great  parties,  but  form 
a  bewildering  variety  of  groups.  In  Kharkov  there 
are  twelve  tickets  of  nominees  for  the  city  duma,  in 
Poltava  fourteen,  in  Kiev  eighteen.  But  incoher- 
ence will  touch  its  apex  when  in  November  in  Petro- 
grad  twenty  parties  and  groups  will  offer  lists  of 
candidates  for  membership  in  the  Constituent  As- 
sembly. 

In  a  word,  in  the  more  than  seven  hundred  city 
elections  held  between  June  and  September  there 
compete  two  principles  of  political  grouping.  One  is 
the  familiar  grouping  according  to  opinion  on  public 
questions.  The  other  is  grouping  according  to  so- 
cial or  economic  affiliation.  The  latter  prevails  far 
more  than  with  us,  not  only  because  there  has  not 
yet  been  time  for  the  cohering  of  citizens  on  the  basis 
of  common  opinion,  but  also  because  the  formation  of 
Soviets  in  all  centers  has  familiarized  the  people  with 
the  idea  of  representation  according  to  economic 
interest. 

In  these  duma  elections  the  drift  away  from  the 
middle-of-the-road  parties  stands  revealed.  At  the 
end  of  July  Ryech  points  out  that  the  elections 
show  the  cities  "in  the  power  of  a  socialistic  wave." 
In  Murom  the  Socialist  Bloc  (Social  Revolutionists 
and  Social  Democrats)  wins  70  per  cent,  of  the  seats, 
in  Sarapul  60  per  cent.,  in  Gomel  65  per  cent.,  in  Ufa 
70  per  cent.,  in  Rostov-on-Don  76  per  cent.,  in  Khar- 
kov 63  per  cent.,  in  Saratov  86  per  cent.,  in  Riazan 


CITY  ELECTIONS  207 

("in  which  the  food  situation  is  unusually  good") 
36  per  cent. 

By  the  middle  of  August  a  review  of  the  elections 
which  have  taken  place  in  276  cities  shows  that  in 
the  provincial  capitals  the  Socialist  parties  have 
gained  70  per  cent,  of  the  seats,  while  in  the  county 
seats  and  other  cities  they  have  but  371/0  per  cent.) — 
a  striking  indication  of  the  influence  of  factories  and 
urban  concentration  upon  the  political  views  of  the 
masses. 

On  September  8th  a  Cadet-leader,  Shingarev,  com- 
pares the  composition  of  the  new  Petrograd  duma 
with  that  of  its  predecessor  elected  in  May: 

The  Social  Revolutionists  gained  twenty-one  seats,  the 
Bolsheviks  became  incredibly  stronger,  they  gained  thirty- 
four  seats.  .  .  .  The  Toil  group  and  the  Populist  Social- 
ists, who  combined,  have  lost  fifteen  seats  and  have  been 
reduced  to  insignificant  figures,  as  well  as  the  Yedinstvo 
group.  The  ^Mensheviks  almost  disappeared,  having  re- 
ceived eight  places  instead  of  forty  places  previously  held. 

The  Party  of  People's  Freedom  (Cadets)  remained  in 
almost  the  same  place.  .  .  .  Instead  of  23.5  per  cent,  of  all 
the  deputies  it  has  in  the  new  Duma  21  per  cent. 

There  can  be  no  mistaking  what  this  portends. 
He  says: 

At  present  the  political  barometer  .  .  .  clearly  moves 
toward  "storm." 

In  the  groups  of  revolutionary  Socialism  supported  by 
the  masses  of  the  population  of  small  intelligence  are  grow- 
ing extremist  forces  and  a  spirit  of  new  rebellion.  In  spite 
of  the  sad  and  disgraceful  days  of  July  16th  to  18th  again 
these  tendencies  threaten. 


CHAPTER  XX 
THE  MOSCOW  CONFERENCE 

GROWING  fear  of  royalist  plots  and  the  German 
menace  caused  a  feeling  of  uneasiness  regard- 
ing the  residence  of  Nicholas  and  his  family  at 
Tsarskoe  Selo.  Voices  were  raised  in  the  Soviet  de- 
manding that  the  ex-tsar  have  meted  out  to  him  the 
punishment  he  was  so  ready  to  mete  out  to  far  bet- 
ter men,  i.  e.,  be  sent  to  Siberia  and  put  to  work  in 
the  mines.  Kerensky  foresaw  the  possibility  of 
having  to  use  troops  from  the  front  against  the  Bol- 
shevik workmen  of  Petrograd  and  he  realized  that 
with  Nicholas  near  at  hand  his  enemies  might  rep- 
resent his  moves  as  part  of  a  royalist  plot.  Ac- 
cordingly, it  was  decided  to  remove  the  Romanovs 
to  Tobolsk  in  northwestern  Siberia. 

Fearing  an  attack  upon  the  train  which  might  re- 
sult in  the  assassination  of  the  imperial  family,  the 
Government  was  at  great  pains  to  keep  the  removal 
secret.  Not  even  the  head  of  the  railroad  depart- 
ment knew  whither  the  train  was  bound.  This  time 
the  gorgeous  imperial  train  was  not  used.  What 
was  provided  was  an  ordinary  train  of  three  sleep- 
ing-cars, a  dining-car,  and  several  third-class  cars, 
with  a  second  train  for  baggage  and  for  thirty  at- 
tendants. Nicholas  was  not  informed  whither  he 
was  going  and  was  allowed  little  time  for  prepara- 
tion. He  inquired  whether  he  was  to  be  sent  to  the 
Crimea,  where  he  had  a  palace  and  "could  live  like 

208 


o 


THE  MOSCOW  CONFERENCE  209 

a  civilized  man";  and  on  getting  an  evasive  answer 
tears  rose  in  bis  eyes.  As  the  train  pulled  out  the 
soldiers  on  the  track  jeered,  one  of  them  calling  out 
"Sibirsky  Tsar!'\  i.  e.,  ''Tsar  of  Siberia,"  and  at 
the  empress,  who  looked  defiantly  out  of  the  window, 
''Mrs.  Rasputin.'' 

Tobolsk  is  a  dirty  and  unattractive  town  of  twenty- 
five  thousand  inhabitants  situated  on  the  Irtish,  in 
the  midst  of  dreary  marshes  and  forests,  and  two 
hundred  miles  from  the  railway.  It  is  reached  by 
steamer  and,  of  course,  save  during  the  summer,  it 
is  cut  off  from  the  world.  The  imperial  family  was 
lodged  in  the  ''palace"  of  the  former  governors,  a 
twenty-room,  dilapidated,  and  very  dirty  stucco 
house  ^\"ithout  modern  conveniences..  There  was 
poetic  justice  in  the  fact  that  for  centuries  Tobolsk 
has  been  the  center  to  which  the  Romanovs  exiled 
their  foes  and  critics.  A  poet-revolutionist  has 
called  Tobolsk  "a  town  of  exiles'  tears  and  blood 
from  beaten  backs,  the  real  metropolis  of  all-crush- 
ing Tsarism."  As  no  Romanov  has  ever  been  freer 
in  resorting  to  exile  to  rid  himself  of  the  noble  pro- 
testing hearts  of  Russia  than  Nicholas,  there  was  a 
certain  fitness  in  administering  him  a  very  dilute 
dose  of  his  own  medicine.^ 

The  crumpling  of  the  front  and  the  Petrograd 
riots,  together  with  the  growing  tendency  of  the  peas- 
ants to  deal  with  the  lord's  land  as  it  seemed  good  to 
them,  impressed  the  Provisional  Government  with 
the  necessity  of  finding  a  basis  for  wide  unified  ac- 
tion if  the  Russian  State  was  not  to  founder.  Ac- 
cordingly, it  convened  in  Moscow,  the  ancient  capital 

1  See  Long,  Russian  Revolutionary  Aspects,  Chap   XIV. 


210     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

and  holy  place  of  Russia,  a  National  Conference 
made  up  of  about  two  thousand  five  hundred  rep- 
resentatives of  all  the  parties,  organizations  and 
corporations  which  appeared  to  be  vital  and  sig- 
nificant in  Russian  life.  The  announced  apportion- 
ment of  representation  was  as  follows : 

Eepresentatives  of  the  four  Dumas  488 

Peasants 100 

Representatives  of  Soviets  and  public  organizations   129 

Cities  (representatives  of  city  govts  )    147 

Zemstvo  and  City  Unions  18 

Zemstvos    1 1  ^ 

Commercial  and  industrial  circles  and  Lanks 150 

Scientific  organizations 9^ 

Toiling  intelligentsia  83 

Army  and  fleet  117 

Clericals  and  church  organizations 24 

Nationalist  organizations    58 

Provisioning  committees   90 

Agricultural  societies    51 

Cooperatives    313 

Trade  unions  1 7fi 

Government  commissaries    33 

War  Department    1^» 

Class  organizations    4 

Members  and  representatives  of  the  Government 15 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  between  August 
25th  and  August  28th  the  spokesmen  of  every  suc- 
cessful element  in  Russia  were  gathered  in  the  enor- 
mous hall  of  the  Great  Theater.  Decorated  officers 
and  shock-headed  peasants  in  smocks.  Central  Asian 
Mussulmans  in  Khalati  and  priests  in  cassocks,  Ta- 
tars in  tunics,  and  Georgians  in  tclierhesha,  epaulet- 
ted  generals  and  privates  in  plain  uniforms,  frock- 
coated  gentlemen  and  men  in  blouses,  savants  and 
hand-workers,  bureaucrats  and  veteran  revolution- 
ists,— all  were  there  to  consider  their  country's  dire 
need.     Never  before  in  Russia's  history  had  a  body 


THE  MOSCOW  CONFERENCE  211 

so  representative  of  her  superior  people  been  con- 
vened. 

The  aims  of  the  conference  were  two, — to  give  an 
expression  at  this  crisis  in  the  life  of  the  State  to  all 
the  important  elements  in  Russian  society,  and  to 
see  if  there  could  be  found  a  concrete  political  pro- 
gram on  which  all  interests  might  unite.  The  first 
aim  was,  indeed,  achieved  and  the  speeches  of  Ker- 
ensky,  Tcheidze,  Tseretelli,  Miliukov  Bublikov, 
General  Kornilov,  General  Kaledin,  Plekhanov, 
Kropotkin,  Breshko-Breshkovskaya  and  others  con- 
stitute an  invaluable  revelation  of  w^hat  lay  at  the 
heart  of  the  self-conscious  part  of  Russian  society 
at  this  tragic  moment.  The  second  aim  failed,  for 
the  unity  of  all  the  progressive  forces  was  not 
achieved  and  the  disintegration  of  Russia  was  not 
arrested. 

Kerensky  opened  the  conference  with  a  frank  dis- 
closure of  the  appalling  state  of  affairs. 

Starving  cities,  the  more-and-more  disorganized  trans- 
portation system, — this  artery  that  carries  food  to  the 
army  and  the  navy  and  all  the  citizens  of  the  Russian  State, 
— the  falling  off  in  the  output  of  industrial  labor,  the  open 
refusal  to  support  the  country  by  great  sacrifices  of  wealth 
and  propertj^  on  the  part  of  the  property-owning  classes, — 
all  this  has  brought  us  to  the  state  where  the  decrease  in 
the  joint  output  due  to  the  theft  and  waste  of  the  national 
wealth,  the  weapons  of  defense  and  production,  is  accom- 
panied by  exhaustion  of  the  Government  treasury  and  a 
great  financial  and  currency  crisis.  The  same  situation, 
and  in  fact,  worse,  may  be  observed  in  the  political  tenden- 
cies where  the  process  of  disorganization  and  the  falling 
apart  into  new  parties  and  groups,  unfriendly'  to  one  an- 


212     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

other,  works  great  havoc,  which  is  strengthened  by  the 
separatist  aspirations  on  the  part  of  several  nationalities 
of  Russia  seeking  salvation,  not  in  a  closer  unity  with  the 
vital  forces  of  the  Russian  State,  but  in  more  clearly  and 
definitely  marking  otf  their  fate  from  ours.  .  .  . 

Nekrassov,  Minister  of  Finance,  pointed  out  that 
the  deficit  for  the  year  would  be  15  billion  rubles. 
Paper  rubles,  issued  at  the  rate  of  217  millions  a 
month  in  1915,  223  millions  a  month  in  1916,  423  mil- 
lions a  month  during  January  and  February,  1917, 
had  been  issued  since  the  Revolution  at  the  rate  of 
832  millions  a  month!  The  food  committees  would 
cost  500  million  rubles  yearly,  the  land  committees 
140  million  rubles.  Most  of  the  wage-increases  in 
the  munition-factories  finally  came  out  of  the  Treas- 
ury. 

The  lack  of  grip  in  the  new  regime  is  reflected  in 
the  falling  receipts  from  taxes.  As  compared  with 
1916  the  decrease  in  land  revenue  for  the  first  three 
months  after  the  Revolution  amounts  to  32  per  cent. ; 
in  the  city  real-estate  tax,  41  per  cent. ;  in  the  taxes  on 
rent,  43  per  cent. ;  war  revenue  yielded  29  per  cent, 
less;  industrial  enterprises  19  per  cent,  less;  the 
tax  on  mortgages,  11  per  cent,  less ;  the  inheritance 
tax,  16  per  cent,  less;  the  insurance  tax,  27  per  cent, 
less ;  the  redemption  duties,  65  per  cent.  less.  After 
having  suffered  from  iron  tsarism,  the  only  govern- 
ment the  Russian  people  will  tolerate  is  one  so  soft 
that  it  cannot  even  collect  its  taxes ! 

The  most  sensational  episode  was  the  appearance 
of  the  Commander-in-Chief,  General  Kornilov.  Al- 
ready the  bourgeoisie  were  rallying  about  Kornilov 
as  the  man  of  iron  and  blood  who  would  sweep  aside 


THE  MOSCOW  CONFERENCE  213 

the  rhetorician  Kerensky.  The  morning  of  his  ar- 
rival in  Moscow,  on  the  second  day  of  the  confer- 
ence, illustrated  pamphlets  were  circulated  describ- 
ing his  remarkable  rise,  his  heroism  and  his  victories, 
and  holding  him  up  as  his  country's  destined  sav- 
ior. He  was  met  at  the  railroad  station  by  Cossacks, 
military  cadets,  members  of  the  volunteer  "shock" 
{udarnye)  battalions,  representatives  of  the  ''Mos- 
cow Industrial  Group"  (manufacturers  and  mer- 
chants), the  Mayor  of  Moscow,  and  the  veteran 
Duma  member  Rodichev.  As  the  general,  accom- 
panied by  his  body-guard  of  tall  Tekke  Turkomans  in 
their  huge  black  sheepskin  caps,  marched  down  the 
line,  flowers  were  strewn  at  his  feet.  As  the  mayor 
welcomed  him  as  Russia's  hero,  savior,  and  "our 
heart's  desire,"  some  of  the  Cossacks  shed  tears. 

When  he  entered  the  theater  the  members  gener- 
ally rose,  but  about  forty  private  soldiers,  delegates 
from  the  front,  ostentatiously  kept  their  seats  and 
replied  with  hisses  to  the  cry,  "Get  up,  scoundrels!" 

In  his  speech  Kornilov  does  not  openly  assail  the 
Kerensky-Soviet  regime  but  indirectly  he  indicts  it. 
He  declares  that  the  shooting  of  mutineers  at  the 
front  has  brought  a  healthier  spirit  into  the  army 
but  the  destructive,  disintegrating  propaganda  still 
continues. 

For  some  time  since  the  beginning  of  August  the 
soldiers,  who  have  turned  into  beasts  that  have  lost 
all  semblance  of  warriors  have  been  killing  their 
commanders.  He  gives  a  list  of  such  victims,  wind- 
ing up  with  the  bayonetting  of  General  Pourgasov 
of  the  Doubno  Regiment  by  his  own  soldiers. 

But  when  the  regiment  that  refused  to  surrender  the 


214     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

instigators  and  criminals  was  surrounded  by  a  specially 
chosen  division  and  the  commissary,  threatening  to  annihi- 
late the  entire  regiment  by  fire  and  sword,  demanded  that 
these  criminals  be  surrendered,  there  was  crying  and  im- 
ploring for  mercy.  The  criminals  were  surrendered,  they 
were  court-martialled  and  are  now  awaiting  the  penalty 
which  they  will  not  escape.^ 

As  an  inheritance  from  the  old  regime  free  Russia  re- 
ceived an  army,  in  the  organization  of  which  there  were 
considerable  shortcomings  but,  none  the  less,  this  army  was 
firm,  pugnacious,  and  ready  for  sacrifices.  By  a  number 
of  legislative  measures  passed  after  the  Revolution  by  peo- 
ple who  did  not  understand  its  spirit,  the  army  has  been 
transformed  into  a  wild  mob,  valuing  nothing  but  its  life. 
There  have  been  instances  when  individual  regiments  ex- 
pressed a  desire  to  conclude  peace  with  the  Germans,  and 
were  ready  to  return  to  the  enemy  the  captured  territory 
and  to  pay  indemnities  to  the  extent  of  200  rubles  for  each 
soldier. 

General  Koriiilov  urged  that  discipline  be  estab- 
lished by  giving  proper  authority  to  the  officers  to 
regulate  the  necessary  inside  work,  force  the  sol- 
diers to  feed  and  clean  the  horses  and  to  clean  their 
own  lodgings — now  very  filthy.  The  prestige  of  the 
officers  must  be  restored  and  they  should  be  morally 
indemnified  for  the  humiliation  and  systematic  jeer- 
ing they  have  had  to  undergo,  as  well  as  better  paid. 
The  activities  of  committees  should  be  confined  to 
the  economic-  and  interior  life  of  the  army  and  not 
interfere  with  plans  of  military  operations,  with 
fighting,  or  with  the  selection  of  officers. 

From  the  slump  in  the  production  of  munitions  the 

1  But  they  did  escape  it. 


THE  MOSCOW  CONFERENCE  215 

general  draws  the  inference  **  there  must  be  no  dif- 
ference between  the  front  and  the  rear  with  regard 
to  the  strictness  of  regime  necessary  for  the  salva- 
tion of  the  country."  From  his  recommendations 
presented  to  the  Government  but  three  days  before 
we  know  that  w^hat  he  means  is  the  extending  of 
martial  law  over  railroads  and  factories  working  for 
the  Army. 

Even  more  striking  is  the  speech  of  General  Kale- 
din,  Hetman  of  the  Cossacks.  With  indignation  he 
repudiates  the  charge  that  the  Cossacks  are  counter- 
revolutionary : 

Understanding  revolutionary  spirit  not  in  the  sense  of 
fraternizing  with  the  enemy  troops,  not  in  the  sense  of 
deserting  our  posts  of  duty,  not  in  the  sense  of  criminally 
robbing  the  national  Treasur\%  not  in  the  sense  of  destroy- 
ing completely  the  personal  inviolability  of  our  citizens  and 
their  property',  or  in  rude  violation  of  the  freedom  of 
speech,  press  and  assemblage,  the  Cossacks  repudiate  all 
imputations  of  counter-revolutionary  spirit. 

In  the  name  of  the  men  from  the  twelve  Cossack 
regions  of  Russia  the  Hetman  suggests  the  follow- 
ing measures : 

(1)  The  army  must  be  kept  out  of  politics.  No  more 
political  meetings. 

(2)  All  Soviets  and  committees  must  be  abolished,  in  the 
army  as  well  as  in  the  interior  of  the  country,  save  the  com- 
mittees of  regiments  and  smaller  units,  the  rights  and  duties 
of  which  shall  be  strictly  limited  to  the  economic  sphere. 

(3)  Tlie  Declaration  of  the  Soldier's  Rights  must  be 
revised  and  supplemented  by  a  declaration  of  his  duties. 

(4)  Discipline  in  the  army  must  be  restored  by  the  most 
drastic  measures. 


216     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

(5)  For  the  sake  of  the  fighting  capacity  of  the  army  the 
front  and  the  rear  must  be  recognized  as  one  entity  and  all 
measures  required  for  strengthening  discipline  at  the  front 
must  also  be  applied  to  the  rear. 

(6)  The  disciplinary  rights  of  the  officers  must  be  re- 
stored to  them. 

(7)  The  leaders  of  the  army  must  regain  their  full 
authority. 

(8)  At  this  terrible  hour  of  great  reverses  at  the  front 
and  complete  disorganization  in  the  interior  the  country 
can  be  saved  only  by  confiding  full  power  to  the  hands  of 
experienced  and  capable  men,  not  bound  by  party  or  group 
programs,  free  from  the  necessity  of  taking  no  step  with- 
out first  obtaining  the  approval  of  various  committees  and 
Soviets,  who  realize  that  the  will  of  the  nation  as  a  whole 
is  the  source  of  sovereign  power  in  the  state  and  not  the 
will  of  separate  parties  or  groups. 

(9)  In  both  the  center  and  the  provinces  there  should 
be  undivided  governmental  authority.  The  usurpation  of 
power  by  central  and  local  committees  and  Soviets  should 
be  immediately  and  abruptly  stopped. 

(10)  Russia  must  remain  one.  All  separatist  aspira- 
tions must  be  nipped  in  the  bud. 

(11)  In  the  economic  realm  there  must  be  the  strictest 
economy.  The  conscription  of  labor  must  be  adopted  forth- 
with. Wages  and  profits  must  immediately  be  regulated 
in-  accordance  with  the  requirements  of  agriculture  and 
manufacturing.  It  is  necessary  to  take  the  most  severe 
measures  to  stop  the  undermining  of  these  industries,  now 
suffering  from  the  arbitrary  actions  of  all  kinds  of  com- 
mittees, which  subvert  the  established  system  of  exploiting 
the  soil  and  disturb  the  relations  between  proprietors  and 
lease-holders. 

The  Commissary  Filonenko,  who  wrote  most  of 
Kornilov's  speech,  was  careful  to  make  national  de- 


THE  MOSCOW  CONFERENCE  217 

fense  its  refrain.  But  it  takes  no  acumen  to  per- 
ceive that  the  emphasis  of  Kaledin's  speech  is  on  the 
protection  of  the  rights  of  the  propertied  class.  In 
the  name  of  military  efficiency  he  coolly  proposes  to 
suppress  political  meetings  among  the  soldiers,  who 
are  two-fifths  of  the  male  citizens  of  Russia,  con- 
script labor,  limit  wages,  wipe  out  the  land  com- 
mittees and  destroy  the  Soviets, — in  a  word  to  wrest 
from  the  toiling  eleven-twelfths  of  the  Russian  peo- 
ple nearly  all  their  gains  from  the  Revolution. 
Quite  plainly  at  Moscow  we  see  discontented  Prop- 
erty aiming  a  blow  at  that  rapidly  growing  organi- 
zation of  the  working  masses  which  threatens  to 
abolish  its  time-hallowed  domination  of  Russian 
society. 

The  auditorium  is  clearly  divided  between  the  op- 
posing groups  in  the  conference.  On  the  right  sit 
Duma  members,  leaders  of  the  "Industrial  Group," 
army  officers  and  the  representatives  of  the  Intelli- 
gentsia. On  the  left  sit  delegates  of  the  Soviets  and 
representatives  of  the  army  committees,  who  have 
come  from  the  front  as  a  counterpoise  to  the  Komi- 
lovite  officers.  The  conference  develops  into  a  ser- 
ies of  competitive  demonstrations  between  the  So- 
cialists ^  and  the  soldiers  on  the  one  hand  and  the 

1  The  Bolsheviks  were  not  represented  in  the  Moscow  Conference, 
as  they  considered  it  "packed"  against  the  working  class.  The  fol- 
lowing from  Izvestia  of  August  26th  throws  light  on  their  feelings: 

"The  Moscow  Government  Conference  is  opening  under  abnormal 
conditions:  tram-cars  are  not  running,  cafes  and  restaurants  are 
closed.  At  yesterday's  meeting  of  the  Soviet  of  Workers'  and  Sol- 
diers' Delegates  it  was  resolved  to  call  upon  the  Moscow  proletariat 
not  to  call  a  strike,  however  the  mood  of  the  Moscow  proletariat  in 
regard  to  the  Moscow  Conference  proved  to  be  so  hostile,  that  late 
at  night  there  took  place  a  meeting  of  the  Bureau  of  the  Central 
Professional  Union  (trade  unions),  at  which  were  present  representa- 


218     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

non-Socialists  and  the  officers  on  the  other  hand. 

Naturally,  therefore,  Kaledin's  speech  is  punctu- 
ated with  demonstrations  and  followed  by  a  commo- 
tion. The  Right  and  a  part  of  the  Center  applaud, 
while  from  the  Left  come  shouts  of  indignation  and 
protest.  He  is  followed  by  Tcheidze,  head  of  the 
AU-Russian  Soviet,  who  begins  by  calling  over  the 
formidable  roll  of  people's  organizations  he  repre- 
sents and  which  the  Cossack  Hetman  proposes  oH- 
hand  to  dissolve : 

In  the  name  of  the  Central  Executive  Committee  of  the 
Soviet  of  Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Delegates,  in  the  name 
of  the  Executive  Committee  of  Peasants'  Delegates,  of  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  United  Social-Welfare  Or- 
ganizations, of  the  cooperative  organizations,  of  the  chair- 
men of  the  Provisioning  Committees,  in  the  name  of  the 
representatives  of  tlie  organizations  at  the  front  and  the 
army,  and  the  soldiers'  section  of  the  Central  Executive 
Committee  of  Soviets  of  Soldiers'  and  Workers'  Del- 
egates, in  the  name  of  the  All-Russian  Union  of  Crippled 
AVarriors,  of  the  All -Russian  Union  of  Zemstvos  and  Muni- 

tives  of  all  the  district  branches.  This  conference  which  repre- 
sented four  hundred  thousand  of  the  Moscow  proletariat  almost  unani- 
mously resolved  to  call  a  strike.  Only  the  Union  of  Employees  of 
Commercial  Industrial  Enterprises  (store  clerks)  and  the  Union  of 
Printers  did  not  join  in  the  resolution  to  call  a  strike.  The  news- 
papers in  Moscow  will  lie  published  to-morrow. 

"Beginning  with  the  morning  near  the  Grand  Theater  where  the 
State  Conference  is  meeting,  there  are  huge  crowds  of  people,  over  ten 
thousand  persons.  The  entire  district  of  the  Grand  Theater  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  triple  cordon  of  cadets  and  soldiers.  Order  is  main- 
tained in  the  crowd  by  mounted  militia  and  militia  on  foot.  There 
is  no  disorder.  There  were  no  demonstrations,  because  all  organiza- 
tions including  the  Bolsheviks  urged  the  workers  not  to  make  any 
demonstrations. 

"The  crowd  received  the  arriving  delegates  very  coldly,  only  an 
insignificant  part  of  the  croud  expressed  approval,  in  the  main  the 
crowd  was  in  a  hostile  mood,  and  there  were  even  heard  hisses." 


THE  MOSCOW  CONFERENCE  219 

cipalities,  of  the  Central  Union  of  the  employees  of  gov- 
ernmental and  private  institutions,  of  the  All-Russian 
Railway  Constituent  Convention  and  the  majority  of  the 
representatives  of  municipal  self-government  I  have  the 
honor  to  state : 

His  platform  proposes : 

(1)  Offset  the  fixing  of  prices  on  agricultural  products 
by  likewise  fixing  the  prices  of  the  manufactures  the  peas- 
ant has  to  buy.  This  involves,  likewise,  the  regulation  of 
wages. 

(2)  State  control  of  industries  and  even  the  creating  of 
state  sjmdicates  (regulated  combinations)  of  industrial  en- 
terprises. State  protection  of  labor,  regulation  of  the  re- 
lations between  labor  and  capital.     Work-or-fight  laws, 

(3)  Luxury  taxes,  a  tax  on  the  increment  in  the  value  of 
productive  securities  and  a  levy  on  capital. 

(4)  The  peasants'  committees,  their  sphere  of  competency 
precisely  defined  by  law,  to  be  charged  with  the  regulation 
of  the  local  laud  problem. 

(5)  The  sphere  of  activity  of  the  officers,  commissaries, 
and  army  organizations  to  be  defined.  The  officers  should 
be  entirely  independent  as  regards  technical  and  strategic 
direction  of  the  troops  and  in  all  questions  affecting  the 
training  of  the  troops  the  decision  shall  rest  with  them. 
The  commissaries  should  speak  for  the  Government  in  all 
questions  which  stand  in  relation  to  the  general  revolu- 
tionary policy  of  the  Provisional  Government.  They 
should  work  in  close  contact  with  the  army  organizations. 
The  rights  of  the  army  committees  should  receive  legislative 
recognition. 

(6)  The  local  soviet  to  have  no  authority  once  a  local 
administration  has  been  created. 

(7)  Recognition  of  the  right  of  full  self-determination 
for  all  nationalities  in  Russia.  Equal  rights  of  non-Rus- 
sian nationalities  in  the  use  of  their  own  languages. 


220     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

The  reader  will  not  fail  to  note  the  socialistic 
tinge  of  these  proposals,  which  have  the  support  of 
all  the  political  and  occupational  groups  represented 
in  the  Conference. 

Tseretelli  declares  that  the  policies  the  generals 
propose  would  mean  the  funeral  of  free  Russia. 
''"We  speak  of  sacrifices;  the  Democracy  does  every- 
thing for  the  salvation  of  the  country.  ...  If  all  the 
democratic  organizations  created  by  the  activities  of 
the  people  themselves  were  suppressed,  who  then 
would  stand  up  in  defense  of  freedom  and  the  very 
existence  of  the  country?" 

The  declaration  on  behalf  of  the  members  of  the 
Fourth  Duma  read  by  Rodzianko  formulates  the  de- 
sires of  bourgeois  Russia.  It  puts  the  war  first  and 
insists  that  ''the  Government,  in  defining  the  aims 
of  the  war  waged  by  Russia  and  the  Allies,  must  not 
introduce  any  tendencies  of  international  Socialism, 
but  must  be  guided  exclusively  by  the  national  in- 
terests of  Russia  .  .  .  The  Government  must  keep 
itself  completely  independent  of  the  Soviets  of  "Work- 
men's, Soldiers'  and  Peasants'  Delegates,  which  do 
not  represent  the  will  of  the  entire  nation." 

It  is  instructive  to  compare  with  Kaledin's  pro- 
posals those  of  the  great  revolutionary  thinkers  and 
heroes,  Breshko-Breshkovskaya,  Kropotkin  and 
Plekhanov,  who  are  just  as  much  for  fighting 
through  the  war  with  entire  loyalty  to  the  Allies  as 
Rodzianko  and  Kaledin,  but  who  will  not  stand  for 
repression.  The  first  rebukes  the  bourgeoisie,  who 
do  nothing  for  the  working-people  in  return  for  be- 
ing fed  by  it. 


THE  MOSCOW  CONFERENCE  221 

'  *  Where  are  you  1 ' '  she  exclaims.  ' '  Where  is  your 
knowledge,  your  devotion  1  Where  is  your  work  for 
your  country's  salvation?  So  far  no  one  has  felt  it : 
You  realize  that  the  people  need  enlightenment: 
why,  therefore,  do  you  withhold  it?  Who  is  work- 
ing to  that  end?  Who  is  agitating  among  the  un- 
enlightened population  ?  I  do  not  see,  I  do  not  hear 
anything  of  the  sort.  The  people  remain  friendless, 
without  teachers,  without  leaders,  even  as  they  were 
before." 

Kropotkin  warns:  '^ Repressive  measures  will 
get  us  nowhere.  Something  else  is  needed.  It  is 
necessary  that  the  great  mass  of  the  Russian  people 
should  understand  and  see  that  a  new  era  is  ap- 
proaching, an  era  that  will  give  the  whole  people 
the  opportunity  to  obtain  education,  to  live  no  longer 
in  that  terrible,  horrifying  poverty  and  squalor  in 
which  the  Russian  people  have  lived  up  till  now.  ..." 

This  get-together  conference  fails  because  the  so- 
ciety of  abysmal  contrasts  produced  under  the  old 
regime  has  within  five  months  become  polarized  into 
two  hostile  camps.  Ryecli  says  in  its  issue  of  Au- 
gust 31st : 

...  A  comparison  of  the  contents  of  the  resolutions  of 
both  camps  shows  that,  while  they  agree  in  many  particu- 
lars, both  camps  continue  to  dilfer  in  principle  in  their 
views  regarding  the  most  fundamental  clauses  of  the  Gov- 
ernment 's  program,  such  as :  rehabilitation  of  the  army  and 
increase  of  its  fighting  ability,  reestablishment  of  authority 
of  the  Government  throughout  the  country,  preservation  of 
the  unity  of  Russia  from  the  claims  of  the  nationalities  in- 
habiting it,  that  the  will  of  the  Constituent  Assembly  in  the 
agrarian  problem  should  not  be  prejudged,  etc.     With  such 


222     THE  IIUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

a  state  of  affairs  it  is  evident  that,  uo  matter  what  were 
the  demonstrations  of  the  getting  together  of  the  two  op- 
posite camps,  it  is  still  very  far  from  a  real  unity. 

Nine  days  later  it  observes: 

It  is  now  clear  to  all  that  the  Conference  did  not  improve 
but  aggravated  the  condition  of  authority,  by  exposing  to 
the  whole  country  the  contradictions  hidden  in  it  and 
clearly  demonstrating  those  irreconcilable  differences,  which 
had  kept  the  Government  in  a  state  of  constant  hesitation 
and  indecision. 

While  the  conference  reveals  in  dramatic  fashion 
the  developing  antagonism  between  bourgeoisie  and 
Socialists,  it  gives  no  hint  of  the  intrigues  aiming  to 
unite  these  groups  against  the  Bolsheviks.  Keren- 
sky  and  Kornilov,  although  disliking  and  despising 
each  other,  realize  that  neither  can  hold  power  with- 
out the  aid  of  the  other.  Negotiations  are  in  prog- 
ress intended  to  bring  together  the  army,  the  bour- 
geoisie, and  the  moderates  to  crush  the  extremists. 


CHAPTER  XXI 
THE  KORNILOV  AFFAIR 

LAVR  Kornilov,  whom  Lenin  in  April,  1918, 
called  "the  most  daring  of  the  counter-revolu- 
tionaries," was  born  in  Mongolia,  the  son  of  a  Trans- 
baikal  Cossack  and  a  Mongol  mother.  At  the  age  of 
thirteen  he  was  herding  cows  in  a  Siberian  village. 
Securing  admission  to  the  Michailovsky  Artillery 
School  in  Petrograd,  he  soon  amazed  his  teachers 
by  his  gift  for  languages  and  mathematics.  After 
receiving  his  officer's  commission  he  went  to  Turke- 
stan, where  he  set  himself  to  explore  and  study  and 
make  himself  master  of  the  local  dialects.  He  did 
this  so  well  that  presently  he  could  pass  for  a 
Turkoman,  all  the  more  because  his  Mongol  blood 
showed  itself  in  a  light  yellowish  skin,  a  sparse 
black  beard,  high  cheek-bones  and  oblique  brown 
eyes.  The  local  Mohammedans  worshipped  him; 
and  from  this  epoch  dates  his  habit  of  surrounding 
himself  with  Moslem  tribesmen. 

In  the  Russo-Japanese  War  he  was  charged  with 
fighting  the  rear-guard  action  that  saved  one  of 
Kuropatkin's  three  armies  after  the  Battle  of 
Mukden.  For  this  he  was  rewarded  with  the  Cross 
of  St.  George  and  with  a  golden  sword  presented 
personally  by  the  tsar. 

Sent  to  Peking  as  military  agent  after  the  Japan- 
ese War,  he  made  remarkable  progress  in  mastering 
Chinese.    In  the  World  War  Kornilov  commanded 

223 


224     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

a  division.  In  the  terrible  Galician  retreat  his  divi- 
sion had  to  protect  the  withdrawal  of  the  rest  of 
the  army.  Although  wounded  in  the  arm,  he  led  the 
charges  of  his  men  as  he  had  done  at  Mukden.  He 
was  taken  prisoner  and  spent  a  year  in  an  Austrian 
prison  camp  in  Bohemia.  Feigning  illness  in  order 
to  get  a  hospital  allowance  of  food  and  thus  keep 
up  his  strength,  he  managed  to  escape  with  the  aid 
of  a  Czech  soldier,  Mrnak  by  name,  and  the  two 
walked  five  hundred  miles,  living  for  the  most  part 
upon  berries.  Surprised  by  Austrians,  Mrnak,  pro- 
tecting Ms  comrade,  was  taken  prisoner  while  the 
general  escaped.  Mrnak  was  executed  as  a  traitor, 
but  the  grateful  Russian,  although  a  poor  man,  ar- 
ranged for  the  payment  of  a  life  pension  to  the  sol- 
dier's family,  entered  Mrnak 's  name  upon  the  roll 
of  a  Russian  regiment,  and  ordered  that  at  every 
roll-call,  when  Mrnak 's  name  was  pronounced,  the 
sergeant  should  reply,  "Shot  by  Hungarian  court- 
martial  in  Pressburg  for  saving  the  life  of  General 
Kornilov. ' ' 

On  returning  to  Petrograd  he  obtained  an  audi- 
ence with  the  tsaritza.  After  recounting  his  ad- 
venturous escape  he  described  with  emotion  the  suf- 
ferings and  hardships  of  the  Russian  prisoners  in 
Austria  and  begged  the  tsaritza  to  exert  her  in- 
fluence with  the  neutral  nations  to  get  better  treat- 
ment for  her  unfortunate  subjects.  After  listening 
impatiently  for  a  short  time  she  coldly  dismissed 
him.  The  general  was  furious.  Months  later  it  fell 
to  the  lot  of  General  Kornilov,  as  commandant  in 
Petrograd  after  the  Revolution,  to  communicate  to 
the  tsaritza  the  abdication  of  the  tsar  and  the  deci- 


•t ,  Tii^  :     .22 


*3 


O 


THE  KORNILOV  AFFAIR  225 

sion  of  the  Provisional  Government  as  to  the  future 
of  the  imperial  family.  With  a  proud  and  cold  air 
the  tsaritza  received  him  standing  and  he  began 
reading  the  proclamation.  When  he  was  half-way 
through  it  she  haughtily  motioned  him  to  cease,  as 
she  could  bear  no  more  of  it.  The  general  hesitated, 
but  then  the  memory  of  her  indifference  to  the  suf- 
ferings of  his  poor  lads  in  Austrian  prison  camps 
swept  over  him  and  he  obliged  her  to  hear  the  proc- 
lamation to  the  last  word. 

Made  commander-in-chief  of  the  southwestern 
front,  Kornilov,  after  the  ignominous  collapse  of  the 
Russian  resistance  in  Galicia,  re-introduced  the 
death  penalty  on  his  own  responsibility.  The  order 
to  his  commanders  and  commissaries  runs : 

I  consider  the  voluntary  retirement  of  troops  from  their 
positions  as  equivalent  to  treason  and  treachery.  There- 
fore I  require  that  all  commanders  in  such  cases  shall  re- 
lentlessly turn  the  fire  of  machine-guns  and  artillery  against 
the  traitors.  I  take  on  myself  full  responsibility  for  the 
victims.  Inaction  and  hesitation  on  the  part  of  command- 
ers I  shall  count  as  neglect  of  duty  and  such  officers  I  shall 
at  once  deprive  of  their  command  and  commit  for  trial. 

Kornilov  notified  the  Provisional  Government  of 
his  action.  Promptly  the  Government  sanctioned 
what  he  had  done  and  issued  an  order  restoring  the 
death  penalty  on  the  front  during  the  war.  The 
crimes  punished  by  death  were  enumerated  and  the 
make-up  of  the  military  courts  to  try  offenders  was 
prescribed.  At  the  end  of  July  Kornilov  took  the 
place  of  Brusilov  as  Supreme  Commander-in-Chief. 

So  desperate  was  the  emergency  that  Kornilov 
ordered   wholesale    execution    of   mutineers.     More 


226     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

than  once  whole  battalions  of  soldiers  were  mown 
down  by  machine-guns,  and  the  stiffened  bodies  were 
stood  up  in  rows  along  the  fences  with  placards  on 
their  breasts  announcing: 

*'I  was  shot  because  I  was  a  traitor  to  Russia." 

For  a  while  the  method  seemed  to  succeed,  and  the 
propertied  and  pro-war  elements  began  to  turn 
toward  the  "little  Cossack  general"  as  the  "strong 
man"  who  could  restore  military  discipline  and  the 
supremacy  of  law.  Not  only  reactionaries  but  the 
bourgeois  liberals  as  well  were  for  him,  and  even 
some  of  the  toiling  elements.  By  birth  and  upbring- 
ing he  was  a  man  of  the  people  and  no  one  believes 
he  desired  to  bring  back  the  tsar. 

Kornilov  pressed  for  limitation  of  the  sphere  of 
army  committees  and  commissaries,  the  restoration 
of  the  disciplinary  powers  of  officers,  death  penalty 
for  the  rear,  and  military  control  over  railroads  and 
the  factories  working  for  the  army.  Kerensky 
long  stood  out  against  granting  him  so  much  and 
from  the  latter  part  of  August  the  tension  between 
the  two  men  rapidly  grew. 

At  the  Moscow  Conference  Kornilov  exclaimed: 
"Surely  it  is  not  necessary  that  Riga  should  fall  in 
order  that  the  need  for  discipline  in  the  army  should 
become  apparent  to  all!"  On  September  2d  the 
German  troops  crossed  the  Dwina  southeast  of  Riga, 
and  on  the  next  day  Riga  was  given  up.  The  offi- 
cial communique  states  that  the  regiments  left  their 
positions  of  their  own  accord,  that  "the  disorganized 
masses  are  retreating  in  an  irresistible  torrent  and 
are  filling  up  all  the  roads."  Later  it  was  estab- 
lished that  the  troops  fought  bravely,  suffered  heavy 


THE  KORNILOV  AFFAIR  227 

losses,  and  generally  left  their  positions  because 
they  were  ordered  to  retire.  From  this  it  came  to 
be  widely  believed  that  Kornilov  caused  Riga  to  be 
surrendered.  Three  months  later  the  Soviet  Gov- 
ernment published  a  cipher  telegram,  found  in  the 
secret  archives  of  the  Foreign  Office,  from  the  Ital- 
ian Ambassador  at  Jassy  to  Baron  Sonnino  at  Rome, 
dated  September  4th  and  purporting  to  transmit  a 
conversation  at  Russian  Headquarters  between 
General  Kornilov  and  the  Rumanian  Minister  Dia- 
mandi,  in  which  the  general  said  that  great  impor- 
tance should  not  be  attached  to  the  fall  of  Riga ;  the 
troops  retreated  at  his  orders  and  he  ordered  their 
retreat  because  he  preferred  the  loss  of  territory  to 
the  loss  of  an  army;  he  also  calculated  on  the  im- 
pression which  will  be  made  by  the  taking  of  Riga  on 
public  opinion,  for  the  purpose  of  the  immediate 
restoration  of  discipline  in  the  Russian  Army.^ 

Meantime  Petrograd  became  apprehensive  and  a 
considerable  exodus  began.  An  interesting  side 
light  on  the  quality  of  patriotism  in  Russian  business 
circles  is  the  fact  that,  toward  the  end  of  this  month, 
when  the  chairman  of  the  Financial  Section  of  the 
Commission  for  the  Evacuation  of  Petrograd 
sounded  the  insurance  companies  as  to  the  insurance 
of  property  left  behind  by  citizens  quitting  the  capi- 
tal, the  directors  after  consultation  announced  that 
for  the  period  before  the  occupation  of  Petrograd  by 
the  Germans  they  would  insure  at  the  rate  of  sixty 
rubles  per  thousand,  but  that  for  the  period  after 
their  rate  would  be  a  third  less! 

That  the  general  was  bidding  for  the  support  of  the 

1  Izvestia,  December  14th. 


228     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

landed  proprietors  may  be  seen  clearly  from  an  or- 
der he  issued  on  September  4th.  On  the  ground 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  supreme  commander-in- 
chief  to  concern  himself  with  the  supply  of  provi- 
sions and  fodder,  he  forbade  within  the  war  zone: 
(1)  Interference  with  the  gathering  of  crops  by 
agricultural  machines;  (2)  the  unlawful  removal  of 
live  stock  and  other  farm  property;  (3)  the  taking 
away  from  the  estates  of  war  prisoners  or  other 
workers;  (4)  compelling  the  proprietors  to  pay  the 
war  prisoners  more  than  the  rate  established  by 
Government  organs;  (5)  inciting  the  workers  to  de- 
mand more  than  the  wage  previously  agreed  on;  (6) 
requiring  the  landowners  to  pay  for  harvest  labor 
in  grain  rather  than  in  money;  (7)  the  forcible  seiz- 
ure of  standing  or  gathered  crops;  (9)  interference 
with  the  preparation  of  the  fields  for  winter  crops 
and  the  sowing  of  these  crops.  Finally,  the  land- 
owners are  to  strain  every  effort  to  gather  their 
crops  and  work  their  fields.  The  sanction  of  this 
order  is  imprisonment  up  to  three  years  and  the 
provincial  and  county  commissaries  who  neglect  to 
enforce  it  will  be  punished.  This  means,  of  course, 
that  the  estate-owmers  are  to  be  protected  in  all  their 
property  rights  and  to  get  their  labor  on  the  old 
terms. 

Early  in  September  Kerensky,  under  strong  pres- 
sure from  the  military  chiefs,  decided  to  give  Korni- 
lov  the  laws  he  wanted  and  sent  Savinkov,  his 
Assistant  Minister  of  War,  a  famous  revolutionary 
terrorist,  to  headquarters  **to  ask  from  General 
Kornilov  a  cavalry  corps  for  the  effectual  realization 
of  a  state  of  war  in  Petrograd,  and  for  the  defense  of 


THE  KORNILOV  AFFAIR  229 

the  Provisional  Government  against  any  kind  of  at- 
tempts upon  it,  and  in  particular  against  attempts 
by  the  Bolsheviks,  action  by  whom  had  already  taken 
place  during  the  three  days  July  16th  to  18th,  and, 
according  to  the  information  of  the  agents  of  the 
counter-espionage  abroad,  was  being  prepared  anew 
in  connection  with  a  German  landing  and  a  rising 
in  Finland." 

Savinkov  explained  to.Kornilov  that  it  was  doubt- 
ful how  the  Soviet  would  react  to  the  new  laws  and 
requested  the  despatch  to  Petrograd  of  the  3d  Cav- 
alry Corps  which,  how^ever,  should  not  include  the 
"Savage"  Division  and  not  be  under  General  Kry- 
mov.  He  urged  that  if  it  was  necessary  to  use  arms 
for  the  suppression  of  disorders,  the  action  taken 
must  be  of  a  most  decisive  and  ruthless  character. 
Kornilov  replied  that  he  did  not  understand  any 
other  kind  of  action  in  such  cases  and  that  the  troops 
would  be  instructed  accordingly. 

Savinkov  returned  and  on  September  9th  received 
from  Kornilov  this  telegram: 

"Corps  will  be  concentrated  in  the  environs  of  Petrograd 
by  evening  of  September  10.  Beg  you  to  declare  Petrograd 
in  state  of  war  on  September.il." 

Now  occurs  the  intervention  of  the  man  destined 
to  bring  misunderstanding  between  the  two  leaders 
who  otherwise  might  have  cooperated  to  tide  Russia 
over  the  crisis.  Vladimir  Lvov,  Procurator  of  the 
Holy  Synod  in  the  First  Provisional  Government, 
became  impressed  with  the  need  of  something  like 
dictatorship  and  on  September  4th  he  talked  over 
the  matter  with  Kerensky.    He  then  presented  him- 


230     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

self  at  Mohilev,  the  general  headquarters,  claiming 
to  be  an  emissary  of  Keren  sky,  and  sounded  the 
commander-in-chief  on  the  subject  of  creating  a 
stronger  Government.  He  stated  that  Kerensky 
was  ready  to  leave  the  Cabinet  if  in  Kornilov's 
judgment  his  presence  in  it  impaired  its  authority. 
Lvov  returned  to  Petrograd  and  informed  the  Pre- 
mier t-hat  Kornilov  proposed :  ( 1 )  The  declaration 
of  martial  law  in  Petrograd;  (2)  the  giving  of  all 
military  and  civil  power  into  the  hands  of  the  su- 
preme commander-in-chief;  (3)  the  resignation  of 
all  ministers,  including  the  Premier  himself,  and  the 
transfer  temporarily  of  control  from  the  ministers 
to  their  assistants  until  the  formation  of  the  com- 
mander-in-chief 's  cabinet. 

The  Premier  promptly  communicated  by  direct 
wire  with  headquarters  and  obtained  from  Kornilov 
confirmation  of  his  proposition.  Regarding  it  as  an 
ultimatum,  Kerensky,  after  conferring  with  some  of 
his  colleagues,  wired  Kornilov  on  September  9th, 
ordering  him  to  turn  over  the  command  to  General 
Lukomsky.  Kornilov  refus-ed  to  surrender  his  com- 
mand,^  while  Lukowsky  telegraphed  refusing  to  take 

1  On  the  night  of  September  9th  Kornilov  issued  his  appeal  to  the 
troops.  Tlie  ^Mohilev  compositors,  being  loyal,  refused  to  set  it  up. 
Accordingly,  one  of  his  officers  with  a  squad  of  ten  Tekke  Turkomans 
went  to  a  printing-shop  and  with  their  long  curved  sabers  drawn  they 
menaced  the  compositors  with  death  unless  they  set  up  the  appeal. 
The  Mohilev  Soviet,  learning  of  what  was  going  on,  decided  to  neu- 
tralize Kornilov's  appeal  by  sending  out  with  it  Kcrensky's  procla- 
mation denouncing  the  revolt.  So,  under  the  nose  of  these  same 
ferocious  Turkomans,  who,  of  course,  knew  not  a  word  of  Russian, 
the  compositors  set  up  and  printed  Kerensky's  manifesto  and  the 
two  proclamations,  bane  and  antidote,  were  loaded  on  the  same  cars 
and  distributed  to  the  army  at  the  same  time!  (See  Izvestia  of 
September  14th.) 


THE  KORNILOV  AFFAIR  231 

it.    The  Provisional  Government  then  issued  the 
following  proclamation : 

A  MESSAGE  TO  THE  PEOPLE 

I  hereby  announce: 

On  September  8th  General  Kornilov  sent  to  me  the  mem- 
ber of  the  State  Duma  V.  N.  Lvov  with  a  demand  for  the 
surrender  by  the  Provisional  Government  of  the  whole 
plenitude  of  civil  and  military  authority,  with  a  view  to 
his  forming,  at  his  personal  discretion,  a  new  government 
for  administering  the  country.  The  authenticity  of 
Deputy  Lvov's  authorization  to  make  such  a  proposal  to 
me  was  subsequently  confirmed  by  General  Kornilov  in  his 
conversation  with  me  by  direct  wire.  Perceiving  in  the 
presentation  of  such  demands,  addressed  to  the  Provisional 
Government  in  my  person,  a  desire  of  some  circles  of  Rus- 
sian society  to  take  advantage  of  the  grave  condition  of 
the  State  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  in  the  country  a 
state  of  authority  in  contradiction  to  the  conquests  of  the 
Revolution,  the  Provisional  Government  has  found  it  in- 
dispensable : 

To  authorize  me,  for  the  salvation  of  our  country,  of 
liberty,  and  of  Republican  order,  to  take  prompt  and  reso- 
lute measures  for  the  purpose  of  uprooting  any  attempt  to 
encroach  upon  the  supreme  authority  in  the  State  and  upon 
the  rights  which  the  citizens  have  conquered  by  the  Rev- 
olution. 

I  am  taking  all  necessary  measures  to  protect  the  liberty 
and  order  of  the  country,  and  the  population  will  be  in- 
formed in  due  course  with  regard  to  such  measures. 

At  the  same  time  I  order  herewith: 

(I)  General  Kornilov  to  surrender  the  post  of  Supreme 
Commander-in-Chief  to  General  Klembovsky,  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief over  the  armies  of  the  Northern  front 
which  bar  the  way  to  Petrograd ;  and  General  Klembovsky 


232     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

to  enter  temporaril}^  upon  the  post  of  Supreme  Commander- 
in-Chief,  while  remaining  at  Pskov. 

(II)  To  declare  the  city  and  district  of  Petrograd  under 
martial  law,  extending  to  it  the  regulations  for  the  localities 
declared  under  martial  law. 

I  call  upon  all  the  citizens  to  preserve  complete  tran- 
quillity and  to  maintain  order,  which  is  so  indispensable 
for  the  salvation  of  the  country.  I  call  upon  all  the  ranks 
of  the  army  and  navy  to  carry  on  with  calmness  and  self- 
abnegation  their  duty  of  defending  the  country  against  the 
external  enemy. 

A.  F.  Kerensky, 
Prime-Minister,  Minister  of  War  and  Marine. 
The  9th  day  of  September,  1917. 

Kornilov  replied  with  the  declaration : 

PROCLAMATION  BY  THE  SUPREME  COMMANDER- 
IN-CHIEF 

The  Premier's  telegram  No.  4163  is  in  its  first  portion  a 
lie  throughout :  it  was  not  I  who  sent  Deputy  Vladimir  Lvov 
to  the  Provisional  Government,  but  he  came  to  me  as  the 
Premier's  envoy.  Deputy  Alexis  Aladin  is  a  witness  to 
this. 

A  great  provocation  has  thus  taken  place,  which  jeopar- 
dizes the  fate  of  the  fatherland. 

People  of  Russia! 

Our  great  country  is  dying.  The  hour  of  its  end  is  near. 
Being  compelled  to  come  forward  in  the  open,  I,  General 
Kornilov,  declare  that,  under  the  pressure  of  the  Bolshevik 
majority  of  the  Soviets,  the  Provisional  Government  is  act- 
ing in  complete  accord  with  the  plans  of  the  German  Gen- 
eral Staff,  at  the  time  when  enemy  troops  are  landing  on 
the  Riga  coast;  it  is  killing  the  army  and  shaking  the 
foundations  of  the  country. 

A  grave  sense  of  the  inevitable  ruin  of  the  country  com- 


THE  KOllNILOV  AFFAIR  233 

mands  me  at  this  threatening   moment   to  call  upon  all 
Russian  people  to  save  tlie  dying  country. 

All  you  in  whose  breast  a  Russian  heart  is  beating;  all 
you  who  believe  in  God  and  in  the  temples,  pray  to  the 
Lord  to  manifest  the  greatest  miracle  of  saving  our  native 
land.  I,  General  Kornilov,  the  son  of  a  Cossack  peasant, 
declare  to  all  and  sundry  that  I  want  nothing  for  my  own 
person,  except  the  preservation  of  a  Great  Russia,  and  I 
swear  to  carry  over  the  people,  by  means  of  a  victory  over 
the  enemy,  to  the  Constituent  Assembly  at  which  it  will 
decide  its  own  fate  and  choose  the  order  of  its  new  State 
life. 

I  cannot  bring  it  upon  myself  to  hand  over  Russia  to  its 
hereditary  enemy,  the  German  race,  and  to  turn  the  Rus- 
sian people  into  slaves  of  the  Germans,  but  prefer  to  die 
on  the  field  of  honor  and  battle,  so  as  not  to  see  tlie  shame 
and  infamy  of  the  Russian  Land. 

Russian  people,  the  life  of  your  country  is  in  your  hands ! 

General  Kornilov, 
The  9th  day  of  September,  1917. 

For  a  while  it  was  possible  to  take  the  view  that 
Kornilov  did  not  originally  aim  to  overthrow  the 
Provisional  Government,  that  he  only  desired  to  soe 
formed  within  the  Government  a  special  War  Cab- 
inet, which  should  includer  Kerensky  as  well  as  him- 
self, and  that  he  and  Kerensky  came  into  a  fate- 
ful misunderstanding  owing  to  the  blunders  of  Lvov. 
There  are,  indeed,  points  of  doubt  still  to  be  cleared 
up,  but  the  publication  on  December  12tli  of  General 
Alexiev's  letter  to  Miliukov  of  September  12th  es- 
tablishes the  existence  of  a  wide  plot.  Alexiev 
writes : 

' '  The  Kornilov  affair  was  not  the  act  of  a  handful 
of  adventurers;  it  was  supported  by  the  sympathy 


234     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

and  assistance  of  large  circles  among  our  intellect- 
uals. .  .  .  You.  are  aware  to  some  extent  that  cer- 
tain circles  of  our  public  not  only  knew  about  every- 
thing, and  not  only  sympathized  with  the  idea,  but 
helped  Kornilov  as  far  as  they  could."  He  warns 
that,  unless  a  campaign  in  favor  of  the  imprisoned 
officers  is  not  immediately  started  in  the  columns 
of  the  "honest  press,"  *' General  Kornilov  will  be 
compelled  to  unfold  in  detail  before  the  court  all 
the  preparations,  all  the  negotiations  with  persons 
and  bodies,  as  well  as  their  participation,  in  order  to 
show  the  Eussian  people  with  whom  he  was  acting, 
what  were  the  real  aims  he  was  pursuing,  and  how 
at  the  critical  moment,  abandoned  by  all,  he  appeared 
with  a  small  number  of  officers  before  a  hurried 
tribunal." 

Be  that  as  it  may,  the  conflict  was  on.  The  Pro- 
visional Government  sent  out  appeals  to  all  its  com- 
missaries in  the  army,  to  the  Petrograd  garrison,  and 
to  the  Cossack  troops.  The  Central  Executive  Com- 
mittees of  the  All-Russian  Soviets,  of  the  Peasants 
as  well  as  of  the  Workers  and  Soldiers,  joined  in  an 
appeal  to  the  army: 

To  the  Entire  Army: 

Comrades,  officers,  and  soldiers!  General  Kornilov  has 
mutinied  against  the  Revolution  and  the  Provisional  Gov- 
ernment. He  wants  to  restore  the  old  regime  and  to  de- 
prive the  people  of  land  and  liberty.  For  his  criminal 
ends  he  is  ready  to  open  the  front  to  the  Germans  and  be- 
tray the  country. 

Comrades,  soldiers,  and  officers!  The  Revolution  and 
the  country  call  upon  you  to  perform  your  duty.  Stand 
up,  all  of  you,  as  one  man,  for  the  defense  of  your  land  and 


THE  KORNILOV  AFFAIR  235 

liberty.  Not  one  of  General  Kornilov's  orders  must  be 
carried  out.  Obey  only  the  orders  of  the  Provisional  Gov- 
ernment and  of  the  Central  Committee  of  the  Councils  of 
Workmen's,  Soldiers',  and  Peasants'  Delegates.  Rally 
around  them!  Now  that  the  foreign  foe  is  threatening 
Petrograd,  the  army  must  remain  united  and  strong.  Now 
every  officer  and  every  soldier  is  especially  needed  by  the 
country  which  they  must  defend  against  the  foreign  foe. 

A  negligible  handful  of  traitors  are  taking  part  in  the 
mutiny  against  the  Revolution.  There  must  be  no  lynching 
of  officers  or  soldiers.  The  Provisional  Government  and 
the  Executive  Committees  are  taking  all  measures  towards 
discovering  all  the  participants  in  the  plot^  who  will  be 
made  to  suffer  the  punishment  they  deserve. 

Comrades,  soldiers,  and  officers,  act  in  unison.  In  this 
way,  you  will  save  the  Republic  and  the  democratic  or- 
ganization of  the  army.  In  this  way,  you  will  save  your- 
selves and  you  will  avert  unnecessary  sacrifices. 

For  the  sake  of  all  this,  the  Executive  Committees  of  the 
Councils  of  Workmen's,  Soldiers'  and  Peasants'  Delegates 
call  upon  all  officers  and  soldiers  to  rally  to  the  defense  of 
the  country,  the  Revolution  and  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment against  the  traitors  who  have  arisen  against  the  Rev- 
olution and  against  the  people. 

Then  soldiers,  sailors,  and  workingmen,  agitated 
by  the  cry  *' counter-revolution,"  rallied  to  the  side 
of  the  Government.  The  Bolshevik  leaders  impris- 
oned in  the  Peter  and  Paul  Fortress  declared  for 
Kerensky.  The  army  at  the  front  would  not  go  with 
Kornilov.  From  garrisons  in  the  rear  towns, ^  from 
the  fleet  at  Helsingfors,  Reval,  and  Kronstadt  came 

iThe  soldiers  at  Viborg  discovered  that  their  commatiders  were 
suppressing  telegrams  from  the  Provisional  Government  ordering  them 
to  send  troops  to  Petrograd  to  defend  it:  they  arrested  their  officers 
and  when  they  found  among  their  papers  the  correspondence  which 
had  passed  between  these  oGicers  and  General  Kornilov  they  lynched 
twenty-two  of  them. 


236     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

sailors  to  fight  for  the  Government.  Into  the  Min- 
istry of  War  poured  telegrams  from  units  of  sol- 
diers, sailors,  and  workingmen,  urging  the  Govern- 
ment to  stand  firm.  So,  while  Kornilov's  advance 
guard  was  still  thirty  miles  from  the  capital,  the  re- 
volt broke  down.  Had  Kornilov  been  able  to  hold 
together  the  strong  force  he  started  with,  no  doubt 
there  would  have  been  in  Petrograd  ' '  a  murder  grim 
and  great.''  It  was  not  alone  the  Bolsheviks,  still  in 
the  minority  in  the  Petrograd  Soviet  and  the  Central 
Executive  Committee,  that  he  was  striking  at.  He 
intended  to  dispose  finally  of  the  Soviets,  that  ris- 
ing power  which  was  making  it  impossible  for  the 
propertied  to  dominate  society  as  of  yore.  His  of- 
ficers cheerfully  announced  they  intended  to  "hang 
Kerensky. "  As  for  the  committeemen  of  the  So- 
viets, hundreds  of  them  would  have  been  massa- 
cred.^ 

One  of  the  most  picturesque  incidents  of  the  de- 

1  How  far  out  were  the  calculations  of  the  bourgeoisie  appears  from 
the  fact  that  on  September  10th  Miliukov  assured  Kerensky  that  the 
real  strength  lay  on  the  side  of  Kornilov,  while  on  the  same  day 
Prince  Troubetzkoy  with  Kornilov's  approval  was  telegraphing  the 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs: 

"On  a  sober  estimate  of  the  situation  one  has  to  admit  that  the 
whole  personnel  in  command,  the  overwhelming  majority  of  the  offi- 
cers and  the  best  part  of  the  army  at  the  front  will  follow  Kornilov. 
In  the  rear  there  will  stand  by  his  side  the  whole  of  Cossackdom,  the 
majority  of  the  military  schools,  as  well  as  the  best  elements  of  the 
troops.  To  their  physical  power  must  be  added  the  superiority  of  a 
military  organization  over  the  weakness  of  the  Government  organs, 
the  moral  sympathy  of  all  non-Socialist  elements  of  the  population, 
the  ever-growing  discontent  with  the  existing  order  among  the  lowest 
classes  and  among  the  majority  of  the  popular  and  urban  masses, 
who  have  become  blunted  in  regard  to  everything,  the  indifference 
which  obeys  the  stroke  of  the  whip.  An  enormous  number  of  those 
who  were  Socialists  in  March  will  doubtless  pass  over  immediately 
to  their  side."  Notice  the  reliance  upon  the  ignorant  and  sodden 
"loioest  classes"! 


THE  KORNILOV  AFFAIR  237 

fense  was  the  Soviet's  sending  to  the  primitive- 
minded  Moslem  horsemen  a  Mohammedan  delega- 
tion which  included  Zahid-Shcfich-Shamyl,  grandson 
of  the  famous  Circassian  chief  Shamyl,  who  resisted 
Russia  so  many  years.  This  delegation  went  from 
regiment  to  regiment  of  the  mountaineers  and  in 
long  talks  explained  how  they  were  being  used  and 
besought  them  not  to  be  ensnared  by  the  counter- 
revolutionists.  A  strong  impression  was  made  on 
the  Tcherkesses,  Chechentsi,  and  Georgians  by  point- 
ing out  that  General  Kornilov,  who  demanded  the 
strictest  obedience,  was  himself  disobeying  his  supe- 
riors, the  Provisional  Government. 

Alarmed  by  the  effect  the  Soviet  Mohammedans 
were  having,  the  corps  commander  called  in  Prince 
Chavchavadzeh  and  ordered  him  to  arrest  the  dele- 
gates at  once.  Despite  his  repeated  and  insistent 
orders,  the  prince  and  the  other  mountaineers  re- 
fused on  the  ground  that  the  delegates  were  under 
the  protection  of  the  sacred  laws  of  hospitality.^ 

The  Tartars,  who  constituted  a  third  of  the  divi- 
sion, told  the  American  Associated  Press  corres- 
pondent ^  that  the  officers 

had  harangued  the  men,  promising  all  sorts  of  political 
advantages  if  they  overthrew  Kerensky,  and  at  the  same 
time  assnring  them  that  they  would  not  have  to  do  much 
fighting.  Appeals  were  made  to  their  religion;  and  the 
atheism  of  the  Petrograd  Socialists  was  cited  as  proof  that 
the  Provisional  Government  was  unfriendly  to  Islam.     As 

1  One  would  give  something  to  have  been  present  at  these  talks. 
Marxian  social  philosophy  refracted  in  a  Mohammedan  mind  and 
presented  in  terms  to  appeal  to  a  Circassian  highlander  with  the  men- 
tal background  of  Roderick  Dhu! 

1  Long,  Russian  Revolution  Aspects,  p.  224. 


238     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

I  was  leaving',  a  horseman  beckoned  me  aside  and  whis- 
pered :  ' '  You  have  heard  from  these  men  ten  reasons  why 
we  embarked  on  our  march  against  the  Government.  Now 
let  me  give  you  the  eleventh  reason.  Last  Thursday  our 
officers  reminded  us  how  we  had  suffered  when  in  Kolomea 
in  Galicia  owing  to  the  absence  of  a  mosque.  They  re- 
minded us  that  Petrograd,  whither  we  were  bound,  about 
five  years  ago  started  to  build  a  magnificent  mosque  to  the 
glory  of  Allah.  This  mosque,  they  declared,  was  unfinished 
as  result  of  strikes  by  the  Socialists.  The  officers  swore  by 
the  Koran  and  on  the  hilts  of  their  sabers  that  Komilov, 
who  is  himself  of  Tartar  blood,  would  reward  the  captors 
of  Petrograd  by  forcing  the  irreligious  Bolshevik  workmen, 
under  threat  of  being  shot,  to  complete  the  mosque  within  a 
month.  "1 

1  The  "Savage"  Division  was  by  no  means  counter-revolutionary  in 
spirit.  The  following  statement  appeared  in  Izvestia  of  September  15: 
To  All  Citizens  of  Russia: 

In  view  of  the  fantastic  rumors  and  false  charges  Avhich  have 
appeared  in  some  newspapers,  we,  the  undersigned  representatives  of 
units  which  make  up  the  Caucasian  Native  Corps  consider  it  our  duty 
to  announce  the  following: 

The  Native  Division,  which  had  now  been  made  into  a  corps,  from 
the  very  beginning  joined  the  revolution  decisively  and  irrevocably. 

The  slogans  of  the  division  are:  (1)  Defense  of  the  Fatherland 
from  the  foreign  enemy;  (2)  recognition  and  obedience  to  the  Pro- 
visional Government,  as  the  organ  of  suj^reme  revolutionary  authority, 
which  bases  itself  on  the  confidence  of  the  organs  of  revolutionary 
democracy — the  Soviet  of  Workers,  Soldiers,  and  Peasants  Delegates. 

By  these  slogans  the  Native  Division  has  been  guided  in  the  past, 
and  by  the  same  slogans  the  Native  Corps  intends  to  be  guided  in  the 
future. 

Any  imputations  against  the  native  corps  we  shall  consider  aa 
provocatory. 

[Signed]  Chairman  of  the  Corps  Committee,  Colonel 
Sultan-Krim  Girey. 

Physician  of  the  Kabardin  Cavalry  Regiment,  Shogenov. 
Lieut. -Col   of  the  Csetin  Cavalry  Regiment,  Dzugaev. 
Top  Sergeant  of  the  Cherkess  Cavalry  Regiment,  Luka  Popov. 
Sergeant  of  the  Ingush  Cavalry  Rgt.,  D.  Mankiev. 
Top  Sergeant  Second  Dagestan  Cavalry  Rgt.,  Mutalim  Rolizanov. 
22d  Hospital  Company,  Semen  Razusavin. 


THE  KORNILOV  AFFAIR  239 

Three  days  later  this  Savage  Division  surrendered 
on  condition  that  it  should  be  sent  home  to  the  Cau- 
casus to  rest.^ 

The  crisis  disclosed  as  by  a  flash  of  lightning  where 
was  the  seat  of  real  power  in  the  capital.  It  was 
from  Smolny,  the  headquarters  of  the  All-Russian 
Soviet  and  the  Petrograd  Soviet,  and  not  from  the 
Winter  Palace,  that  the  orders  were  issued  declaring 
in  the  name  of  the  Soviet's  Committee  for  Combat- 
ing Counter-Revolution  that  Kornilov  was  a  coun- 
ter-revolutionist and  an  enemy  of  the  revolution ;  and 
calling  on  the  revolutionary  soldiers  not  to  obey  his 
orders  or  the  orders  of  his  officers  demanding  the  ad- 
vance on  Petrograd.  It  was  from  Smolny,  and  not 
from  the  Winter  Palace,  that  the  orders  were  is- 
sued that  mobilized  the  Bolshevik  sailors  at  Kron- 
stadt,  brought  them  down  to  Petrograd  and  biv- 
ouacked them  in  the  Field  of  Mars.  It  was  from 
Smolny,  and  not  from  the  Winter  Palace,  that  or- 
ders were  issued  sending  platoons  of  Bolshevik  sail- 
ors to  guard  the  Winter  Palace,  removing  Keren- 
sky's  cadet  Guards  and  making  him  a  virtual 
prisoner  during  the  remaining  hours  of  the  Kornilov 
crisis.  It  was  from  Smolny  that  the  orders  were 
issued  that  called  up  the  workingmen  from  the  Vi- 
borg,  opened  the  Petrograd  arsenal,  and  armed  these 
workingmen — one  of  the  first  actual  beginnings  of 

Osetin  Infantry  Brigade,  Plantza  Khastinaev. 

Staff  of  the  Command  of  the  Corps,  Prikutnevich. 

Hospital  Company,  Top  Sergeant  Butkov. 

Cavalry  Machine-Gun  Detachment,  Obukhov. 

Top  Sergeant  of  the  Sfth  Don  Cossack  Division,  Yakov  Posnikov. 

Commander  of  the  Staff  Division,  Sesoyev. 

Secretary  A.  Sukharev. 

1  War-weariness  was  universal  in  the  army  and  by  no  means  eon- 
fined  to  Bolshevik  regiments. 


240     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

the  Red  Guard.  It  was  from  Smolny  that  the  orders 
were  issued  to  dig  trenches  around  the  environs  of 
Petrograd,  set  up  machine-guns  in  advantageous 
positions,  put  large  guns  on  the  roofs  of  the  more 
stable  buildings,  and  prepared  the  revolutionary 
city  for  forcible  resistance  to  the  Kornilov  advance. 

However,  it  was  not  force  at  all  that  finally  dis- 
posed of  Kornilov 's  much  vaunted  advance.  It  was 
propaganda, — the  new  culture,  or  the  new  poison, 
whichever  you  please  to  call  it.  What  the  Petrograd 
palaces  had  anticipated  was: 

Kornilov  will  advance  from  the  front.  He  is  the 
great  Cossack  general,  commander-in-chief  of  the 
Cossack  armies.  He  will  have  half  a  million  of  the 
bravest  Cossacks.  He  will  have  the  support  of  the 
Army  and  Navy  League.  He  will  have  the  support 
of  the  Chevaliers  of  St.  George.  He  will  have  the 
open  or  covert  support  of  all  the  Allied  embassies 
and  military  missions.  He  will  come  to  Petrograd. 
He  will  overthrow  this  weak,  vacillating  Kerensky 
government.  He  will  reestablish  law  and  order  here, 
and  discipline  in  the  army  at  the  front.  Every- 
thing will  be  happy  and  secure  when  Kornilov 
reaches  Petrograd. 

What  really  happened  was  that  Kornilov  had  with 
him  when  he  left  for  Petrograd  seventy  thousand 
picked  troops.  He  reached  Pskov  with  less  than 
forty  thousand,  and  on  the  morning  he  was  to  move 
on  Petrograd  twenty  thousand  of  these  forty  thou- 
sand refused  to  march.  In  the  circumstances,  Korn- 
ilov threw  up  his  hands,  and  was  taken  prisoner 
without  a  shot  being  fired  or  a  man  being  killed. 
General  Krymov,  commanding  the  Savage  Division, 


THE  KORXILOV  AFFAIR  2-il 

ordering  his  troops  to  yield,  proceeded  to  Petrograd 
where,  after  an  interview  with  Kerensky,  he  shot 
himself. 

After  the  Kornilov  affair  the  Russian  masses 
ceased  to  feel  any  confidence  in  the  Cadet  party. 
During  the  height  of  the  crisis  the  Cadet  ministers 
deserted  their  colleagues  and  hid  away  in  one  of  the 
embassies,  conferring  with  the  Central  Committee  of 
their  party.^  On  the  day  Kornilov  presented  his 
ultimatum  the  Cadet  mouthpiece  Ryech  reviewed 
the  first  half  year  of  the  Revolution  in  a  way  to  pre- 
pare people's  minds  for  a  coup-d'etat.  To  a  half- 
year's  experiences  of  failure  and  disappointment 
it  attributed  ''the  quickly  growing  and  \videspread 
belief  that  this  road  cannot  be  followed  any  longer 
without  risking  the  utter  ruin  of  the  country.  And 
the  other  conclusion  which  results  from  the  bitter 
experience  is  that  a  turn  to  the  other,  the  right  road, 
must  be  sharp  and  decisive." 

In  an  editorial  on  September  11th,  after  recount- 
ing that  the  efforts  of  the  Cadets  to  straighten  out 
the  snarl  in  the  relations  between  the  Provisional 
Government  and  Kornilov  had  constantly  been  met 
by  the  argument,  "Should  not  the  Government  treat 
the  Kornilovites  in  just  the  same  manner  as  it 
treated  the  Bolsheviks?"  Ryech  goes  on  to  remark: 

This  purely  formal  point  of  view  cannot  be  maintained, 
because  one  can't  help  seeino:  that  there  is  a  difference  be- 
tween Lenin's  followers  and  the  followers  of  Kornilov;  it  is 
the  diiference  between  anarchy  and  statesmanship. 

This  editorial  was  taken  by  the  democratic  ele- 

1  Zillbooro,  The  Passing  of  the  Old  Order  in   Europe,  pp.  116-7. 


242     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

ments  as  an  indication  that  the  Cadets  were  impli- 
cated in  the  Kornilov  affair  and  was  widely  quoted. 
The  next  issue  of  Ryech  exhibits  two  and  a  half 
columns  of  blank  space,  its  editorial  evidently  hav- 
ing been  suppressed  by  the  Government.  A  day 
later  it  pleads  to  keep  the  ''Right"  elements  in  the 
Ministry  on  the  ground  that  Kornilov 's  action  has 
resulted  in  strengthening  the  "Left"  elements: 
"Their  strengthening  in  the  Capital  is  already  felt 
at  the  present  time  in  those  concessions  which  the 
Government  is  making  by  permitting  them  to  arm 
themselves,  which  has  the  risk  of  serious  complica- 
tions in  the  future." 


CHAPTER  XXII 
THE  DEMOCRATIC  CONFERENCE 

THE  Kornilov  attempt  brought  the  Bolsheviks 
their  first  triumph  in  the  Petrograd  Soviet. 
On  September  13th,  before  the  Central  Executive 
Committee  and  the  Executive  Committee  of  Peas- 
ants' Delegates,  Kamenev  on  their  behalf  offers  a 
long  resolution  declaring  that  the  representatives  of 
the  propertied  elements  must  be  removed  from  the 
Provisional  Government,  demanding  a  government 
responsible  to  the  representatives  of  the  toiling 
masses,  calling  for  the  immediate  transfer  of  the 
estates  to  peasant  committees,  workers'  control  of 
factories,  the  annulment  of  the  secret  treaties,  aboli- 
tion of  capital  punishment,  freedom  of  agitation, 
purging  of  the  army  from  counter-revolutionary 
officers,  and  abolition  of  all  class  privileges. 

This  resolution  is  voted  down,  but  when  offered 
the  same  day  before  the  Petrograd  Soviet  it  wins 
by  279  to  115  votes.  As  the  meeting  has  not  been 
well  attended,  it  is  not  certain  that  the  Soviet  has 
gone  Bolshevik;  so,  in  order  to  test  the  matter,  all 
the  officers  (presidium)  resign.  At  the  next  meet- 
ing, on  September  22d,  there  is  a  big  turn-out,  but 
the  Bolshevik  resolution  is  carried  by  569  votes 
against  414  votes  for  the  Menshevik  resolution. 
Accordingly,  Tcheidze,  Tseretelli,  Skobelev,  and 
other  trusted  leaders  who  have  guided  the  Soviet  of 

243 


244     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

the  capital  for  a  stormy  half-year  yield  up  their 
control  to  the  Bolsheviks  and  early  in  October 
Trotsky  becomes  chairman.  About  the  same  time 
the  Bolsheviks  gain  the  upper  hand  in  the  Moscow 
Soviet. 

Thanks  to  Kornilov's  clutch  for  power,  the  Red 
Guard  comes  again  into  the  situation.  Companies 
of  armed  workers  were  much  in  evidence  in  the 
demonstrations  of  May  3d  and  4th.  After  the  July 
riots  the  Government  sent  out  search  squads  which 
deprived  these  workingmen  of  their  rifles.  Now, 
with  the  homicidal  Caucasian  tribesmen  approach- 
ing and  sudden  extermination  in  near  prospect,  the 
Central  Executive  Committee  and  Keren  sky  are  glad 
to  open  the  arsenal  and  deal  out  arms  to  all  who 
will  defend  them.  A  fortnight  later  Ryech  carries 
the  significant  item: 

The  formation  of  the  Red  Guard  of  the  Petrograd  Soviet 
of  Workers'  and  Soldiers'  Delegates  can  be  considered  as 
accomplished.  In  all  districts  have  been  organized 
branches  of  the  staff  of  the  Guard. 

The  staff  is  engaged  in  obtaining  arms.  Negotiations 
are  being  carried  on  with  the  Tula  and  Sormov  factories. 

It  was  found  necessary  first  of  all  to  obtain  twelve  thou- 
sand rifles,  some  machine-guns,  and  a  sufficient  quantity 
of  cartridges. 

At  the  moment  when  Kerensky,  Tchernov, 
Avksentiev,  Skobelev,  and  other  of  their  colleagues 
were  in  mortal  danger  the  Cadet  ministers — Kokosh- 
kin,  Yureniev,  and  Oldenburg — left  the  Cabinet. 
After  the  Provisional  Government  was  safe  Sko- 
belev, Avksentiev,  and  Zaroudny  resigned.  The  re- 
maining   ministers    for    some    time    constituted    a 


THE  DEMOCRATIC  CONFERENCE  245 

' '  Quinquevirate "  or  Directory  of  Five,  leaving  the 
other  ministries  in  charge  of  assistant  ministers 
without  portfolio.  The  five  were  Kerensky,  Nekras- 
sov,  Tereshchenko,  Admiral  Verderevsky,  and  Gen- 
eral Verkhovsky. 

One  of  its  first  steps  is  to  proclaim  Russia  a  Re- 
public.    The  terms  of  the  proclamation  are: 

The  revolt  of  General  Kornilov  has  been  suppressed. 
]But  the  mischief  which  it  has  brought  into  the  ranks  of  the 
army  and  into  the  country  is  great,  and  has  once  more  in- 
creased the  danger  which  threatens  the  country  and  liberty. 
Considering  it  essential  to  put  an  end  to  the  indefinite  na- 
ture of  the  political  regime,  remembering  the  unanimity 
and  enthusiasm  with  which  the  idea  of  a  republic  was 
greeted  at  the  Moscow  Conference,  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment hereby  declares  that  the  political  regime  of  the  Rus- 
sian Empire  is  a  republican  regime  and  proclaims  the 
Russian  Republic.  The  urgent  necessity  of  taking  imme- 
diate and  decisive  measures  to  establish  political  order, 
have  led  the  Provisional  Government  to  the  decision  to 
place  the  whole  executive  power  in  the  hands  of  five  of 
its  members  with  the  Minister-President  at  their  head. 
The  Provisional  Government  considers  the  reestablishment 
of  discipline  and  the  fighting  value  of  the  army  as  its  es- 
sential duty.  Convinced  that  the  only  way  to  bring  the 
country  out  of  its  present  precariovis  situation,  is  by  a  con- 
centration of  all  the  living  forces  of  the  country,  the  Pro- 
visional Government  will  increase  its  power  by  bringing  to 
its  bosom  representatives  of  all  parties  who  place  the  gen- 
eral and  permanent  interests  of  their  country  above  the 
temporary  and  private  interests  of  their  parties  and  classes. 
The  Provisional  Government  hopes  to  complete  this  work 
within  a  few  days. 

[Signed]     Minister-Prestoent  Kerensky. 

[Signed]     Minister  of  Justice  Zaroudny. 


246     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

Kerensky  himself  becomes  supreme  commander- 
in-chief  and  announces  the  poHcy  of  weeding  out  of 
the  higher  command  all  officers  whose  political  atti- 
tude does  not  inspire  confidence.  All  leading  fig- 
ures at  headquarters  are  to  be  removed,  inasmuch 
as  they  must  have  known  of  the  Komilov  plot. 
Nevertheless,  General  Alexiev,  arch-monarchist,  is 
made  chief  of  staff.  It  is  decided  to  cut  down  the 
army  a  third  without  lessening  the  number  on  the 
fighting  line,  which  had  been  not  over  a  tenth  of  the 
men  mobilized.  The  necessity  of  getting  some  five 
millions  of  men  out  of  uniform  and  into  working 
clothes,  if  Russia  is  not  to  be  forced  out  of  the  war 
by  utter  breakdown  of  production,  has  become  ob- 
vious. 

The  break-up  of  the  Coalition  Government  results 
in  the  calling  of  another  great  get-together  confer- 
ence for  the  purpose  of  finding  the  basis  for  a  gov- 
ernment which  the  people  will  trust  and  obey.  This 
time  it  is  to  be  "democratic*'  and  is  called  not  by 
the  Cabinet,  but  by  the  Central  Executive  Commit- 
tee. Members  of  the  Duma  and  representatives  of 
the  propertied  class  are  not  invited.  The  1582  dele- 
gates— twenty-three  of  them  being  women — which 
make  up  the  Conference  are  sent  by  Soviets,  munici- 
palities, zemstvos,  military  organizations,  trades 
unions,  cooperatives,  provisioning  committees  and 
nationalist  organizations. 

The  Democratic  Conference  is  a  butt  for  the  mirth 
and  scorn  of  the  organs  of  the  gentry  and  the  bour- 
geoisie. Its  uncouth  stub-and-twist  delegates,  re- 
flecting the  desires  of  probably  80  per  cent,  of  the 
Russian  folk,  are  jeered  at  as  the  ''conclave  of  the 


THE  DEMOCRATIC  CONFERENCE  247 

master  class."  Forgetting  that  the  Moscow  Confer- 
ence gave  the  propertied  people  excess  representa- 
tion, they  speak  of  themselves  as  *'the  ostracized 
class."  The  fact  that  the  rough-handed  masses 
have  been  providing  them  all  their  lives  with  food, 
warmth,  raiment,  and  pleasure  and  have  never  re- 
ceived an  equivalent,  excites  in  them  not  one  throb 
of  gratitude  or  pity.  As  always,  the  dominant  kept 
class  is  selfish  and  arrogant. 

From  his  study  of  the  physiognomy  of  the  dele- 
gates a  waiter  in  Novoye  Vremya  concludes  that 
men  born  with  such  faces  cannot  possibly  be  states- 
men. His  eye  tells  him  that  the  neurasthenic  type 
is  prevalent  among  them.  He  considers  attentively 
the  dress  of  several  delegates  and  finds  in  every  case 
vulgarity  and  artificiality.  The  keynote  of  his  arti- 
cle is  that  he  has  unmasked  a  gang  of  impostors 
whom  one  can  regard  only  with  feelings  of  repug- 
nance and  contempt.  All  of  them  are  masquerad- 
ing. He  doubts  if  there  is  a  single  peasant  among 
them.  This  supercilious  attitude  as  of  the  gentle- 
man toward  the  rabble  crops  up  frequently  in  the 
organs  of  property.  The  ridicule  and  sneers  are 
noted  and  the  time  is  coming  when  they  will  be  paid 
for. 

At  the  same  time  it  must  be  said  that  the  delegates 
represent  organizations  rather  than  the  masses  com- 
prised in  these  organizations.  They  have  not  been 
picked  by  the  rank  and  file  for  the  express  purpose 
of  conveying  their  wishes.  They  have  been  named 
by  the  officers  or  executive  committees  of  the  pop- 
ular organizations  and  have  no  very  clear  idea  of 
what  it  is  that  their  constituents  really  want.    This, 


248     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

perhaps,  is  why  the  will  of  the  conference  is  vague 
and  contradictory. 

Still,  the  conference  is  a  great  window  on  the 
Russian  democracy  and  the  politics  of  Revolution- 
ists. Unlike  the  Moscow  Conference,  this  confer- 
ence provides  for  debate.  During  its  nine  days 
(September  27th  to  October  5th)  hundreds  of  dele- 
gates speak  and  leave  no  doubt  as  to  what  is  in  the 
mind  of  the  leaders  of  the  common  people.  At  first 
Tcheidze,  the  chairman,  tries  to  limit  the  speeches, 
but  the  audience  clamors,  "Let  them  say  everything 
they  have  come  here  to  say!"  and  so  it  is.  A  peas- 
ant who,  perhaps,  has  never  made  a  speech  in  his 
life,  will  talk  for  an  hour  and  hold  his  audience. 
The  most  pregnant  utterance  in  the  conference  is 
that  of  a  peasant-soldier  delegate  who  declares: 
'  *  We  will  not  give  up  our  rifles  till  we  get  our  lands. ' ' 

The  staggering  task  is  how  to  weave  a  generally 
acceptable  program  from  such  widely  divergent  de- 
sires. The  debate  flows  on  day  after  day  and  the 
heart  of  Russia  is  quite  unpacked.  Whenever  the 
chairman  announces  a  recess  the  members  rush  out 
into  the  corridors  to  eat  sandwiches  and  drink  tea. 
The  sessions  last  sometimes  till  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning  and  the  conference  seems  never  to  flag  in 
its  anxious  groping  for  solutions. 

The  great  question  is  whether  the  new  government 
shall  be  constituted  by  this  democracy,  or  shall  it 
again  include  men  representing  the  propertied 
class?  Nearly  all  the  well-known  men,  especially  the 
former  ministers,  advocate  coalition.  After  long 
debate  the  vote  stands: 


THE  DEMOCRATIC  CONFERENCE  249 

For  coalition   766 

Against  coalition    688 

Not  voting   38 

However,  this  show  of  preference  is  completely 
fogged  by  what  follows.  An  amendment  is  offered, 
''Outside  the  coalition  remain  those  elements,  of 
the  Cadet  as  well  as  of  other  parties,  who  are  in- 
volved in  the  Kornilov  conspiracy."     The  vote  is: 

For  exclusion  798 

Against  exclusion 139 

Not  voting 196 

Another  amendment  is  pressed:  "Outside  of  the 
coalition  remains  the  Cadet  party."  The  vote  on 
this  results : 

For  excluding  Cadets 595 

Against  excluding  Cadets  .  .  .   493 
Not   voting    72 

The  Conference  is  now  in  the  absurd  position  of 
having  approved  coalition,  but  ruled  out  the  only 
element  the  democracy  can  coalesce  with.  Small 
wonder  that  when  the  coalition  resolution,  amended 
till  it  is  pure  nonsense,  comes  to  a  vote  the  result  is 

For    183 

Against   813 

Not  voting   80 

To  straighten  out  the  muddle  the  presidium  is  en- 
larged into  an  executive  committee  by  adding  repre- 
sentatives of  all  parties  and  groups  and  is  charged 
with,  the  task  of  working  out  a  proposal  which  the 
majority  of  the  conference  will  accept. 

Meanwhile  word  is  brought  that  Kerensky  is  about 
to  announce  a  new  cabinet  which  will  contain  repre- 


250     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

sentatives  of  the  Cadet  party  and  certain  millionaire 
business  men  of  the  "Moscow  Industrial  Group." 
Tseretelli  on  behalf  of  the  committee  hurries  to  the 
Winter  Palace  to  inform  the  Premier  that  he  dare 
not  ignore  the  adverse  vote  on  coalition.  The  next 
morning  Kerensky  addresses  the  committee  with  an 
impassioned  speech,  painting  a  dark  picture  of  con- 
ditions, insisting  that  an  all-Socialist  Government 
will  endanger  the  country,  and  threatening  to  resign 
if  bourgeois  elements  are  excluded. 

The  committee  is  impressed,  and  the  next  day 
Tseretelli  on  its  behalf  comes  before  the  conference 
with  a  series  of  resolutions  which  the  conference 
passes  by  overwhelming  majorities.  It  is  agreed: 
that  a  representative  body  shall  be  created  to  which 
the  Government  shall  be  responsible  until  the  con- 
vening of  the  Constituent  Assembly  in  December; 
that  if  the  propertied  are  invited  to  join  the  Gov- 
ernment there  shall  be  added  to  this  body  delegates 
from  the  bourgeois  groups,  although  the  numerical 
preponderance  of  the  democratic  elements  must  be 
preserved. 

These  resolutions  are  offered  on  the  supposition 
that  the  chiefs  of  all  the  parties  have  already  con- 
sented to  them  in  committee,  so  that  they  will  meet 
with  no  group  opposition.  But  the  Bolshevik  lead- 
ers, Trotsky,  Lunacharsky,  and  Kamenev,  object  to 
the  representation  of  the  bourgeois  in  the  ''Prelim- 
inary Parliament"  or  Pre-Parliament,  and  announce 
that  they  will  vote  against  the  motion  as  a  whole, 
for  it  is  not  the  motion  to  which  they  had  pledged 
themselves  in  committee.  Stung  by  the  charge, 
Tseretelli  cries:  "The  next  time  I  have  dealings 


THE  DEMOCRATIC  CONFERENCE  251 

with  Bolsheviks  I  will  insist  on  the  presence  of  a 
notary  and  two  secretaries ! '  ^ 

The  Bolshevik  Nogin  shouts  back  that  he  will  give 
Tseretelli  five  minutes  to  retract  his  insinuation  and, 
as  Tseretelli  obstinately  remains  silent,  most  of  the 
Bolsheviks  leave  the  hall  amidst  a  tremendous  up- 
roar. Men  run  into  the  hallways,  screaming  and 
pleading.  In  the  end  the  project  is  adopted  by  839 
to  106  votes. 

The  bolting  of  a  large  and  growing  faction  deals  a 
blow  to  the  hopes  of  a  unified  popular  support  for 
the  new  coalition.  Many  of  the  delegates  begin  to 
suspect  that  they  are  being  ^'done'^  and  when,  on 
the  next  day.  Miss  Spiridonova,  Social  Revolutionist 
of  the  Left,  tells  the  peasants  that  the  adoption  of 
coalition  has  cheated  them  out  of  the  land,  her  words 
are  greeted  by  an  ominous  roar. 

On  October  5th  the  Democratic  Conference  closed 
after  approving  a  first  list  of  members  of  the  Pre- 
Parliament.  The  sitting  ended  with  the  delegates 
standing  up  and  singing  the  ' '  Marseillaise ' '  and  the 
'  *  Internationale. ' ' 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE  PRE-PARLIAMENT  AND  THE  COUNCIL  OF 
THE  RUSSIAN  REPUBLIC 

IT  is  evident  to  all  that  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment is  ceasing  to  be  the  real  master  of  the  coun- 
try. Save  its  paid  servants,  scarcely  any  one  will 
obey  its  decrees  if  he  does  not  wish  to  do  so.  By 
and  large  the  peasants  do  not  heed  it;  the  workers 
do  not  heed  it;  the  common  soldiers  do  not  heed  it. 
The  purpose  of  creating  the  Pre-Parliament  is  to 
bring  the  Government  sensibly  closer  to  the  masses 
so  that  they  will  have  confidence  in  it,  and,  having 
confidence  in  it,  will  obey  it  and  will  help  make 
others  obey  it. 

The  flouting  of  lawful  authority  is  becoming  more 
common  and  anarchy  threatens  to  prevail,  because 
the  Government  is  not  thought  of  by  the  people  as 
*'our'^  Government.  More  and  more  it  is  the  Soviet 
that  is  "ours";  it  is  the  Soviet  that  they  believe  in 
and  obey;  whereas  the  Provisional  Government  is 
regarded  as  an  alien  thing,  responsible  to  nobody, 
which  is  chiefly  concerned  in  blocking  the  self-ful- 
filment of  the  Revolution  in  order  to  protect  the  in- 
terests of  the  small  propertied  class. 

The  purpose,  then,  in  setting  up  the  Pre-Parlia- 
ment is  to  provide  a  representative  body  to  which 
the  Ministry  shall  be  responsible  just  as  in  most 
countries  the  Ministry  is  responsible  to  parliament. 

252 


THE  PRE-PARLIAMENT  AND  COUNCIL      253 

The  institution  may  or  may  not  avail  to  win  pop- 
ular confidence  for  the  Government.  At  any  rate, 
the  expedient  is  worth  trying;  for,  if  we  go  on  much 
longer  as  we  are,  the  Soviets,  who  have  de-facto 
power,  will  have  to  take  over  de-jure  power,  just  as 
Lenin  has  been  urging  from  the  first. 

Alas,  the  arrogance  and  blindness  of  the  proper- 
tied class  prevents  the  experiment  even  being  tried ! 
Its  influential  members  are  too  proud  to  serve  as 
ministers  in  a  government  responsible  to  this  body. 
They  will  not  consent  to  enter  the  Cabinet  unless 
the  widely  heralded  Preliminary  Parliament  is  whit- 
tled down  into  a  mere  '^ Council,"  i.  e.,  a  consulta- 
tive body.  So  we  are  back  where  we  were — an  irre- 
sponsible Coalition  Ministr}^  That  Tcheidze,  Tsere- 
telli  and  other  "Moderates"  should  have  ever  had 
anything  to  do  with  this  abortion  shows  how  little 
grip  they  had  on  political  realities. 

Russia  has  never  known  anything  but  the  rule  of 
one  section  or  another  of  the  propertied  class.  The 
laborer  has  been  a  man  owned.  About  the  time  of 
Shakspere  he  became  a  serf.  In  the  time  of  John 
Milton  he  began  to  be  bought  and  sold  and  he  re- 
mained a  slave  down  to  about  the  end  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century.  Then,  he  became  again  a  serf  until 
his  emancipation  in  1861.  Such  being  the  historical 
background,  to  the  gentry  and  factory  lords  of  Rus- 
sia it  is  inconceivable  that  government  should  arise 
out  of  the  common  purpose  of  working  people — as 
we  Americans  have  seen  it  arise  hundreds  of  times 
in  our  frontier  settlements.  They  honestly  think 
that  only  **men  of  large  affairs," — i.  e.,  members  of 
their  class — have  the  capacity  to  administer  a  de- 


254     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

partment  of  government.  They  little  dream  that 
soon  there  will  be  "People's  Commissaries,"  some 
of  whom  need  not  shrink  from  comparison  with  the 
best  cabinet  officials  of  our  day.  The  bourgeois 
imagine  that  without  them  there  can  be  no  Govern- 
ment ;  if  they  stand  aloof  utter  anarchy  will  reign. 

So  they  make  their  terms:  Kornilov  is  not  to  be 
prosecuted  for  high  treason;  the  propertied  are  to 
be  formidably  represented  in  the  Council  (120  seats 
out  of  305,  or  about  39  per  cent.)  by  representatives 
of  their  own  choosing;  the  Council  is  to  have  the 
right  to  ask  questions,  but  not  to  interpellate  the 
Government;  and  the  Council  is  not  to  have  the 
power  to  change  the  government.  The  Mensheviks 
and  Social  Eevolutionaries,  who  know  how  unpop- 
ular the  Cadets  are  and  utterly  overwhelm  them  in 
the  elections, — who,  nevertheless,  think  the  sky  will 
fall  if  there  are  no  big  business  men  in  the  Govern- 
ment,— agree  to  these  terms :  Four  men  of  the  Mos- 
cow Group — Konovalov,  Kishkin,  Tretiakov,  and 
Smirnov — take  portfolios  and,  on  October  8th,  the 
fourth  and  last  Provisional  Government  is  an- 
nounced as  follows:  Socialists:  Kerensky,  Nikitin, 
Maliantovitch,  Prokopovitch,  Avksentiev,  and  Gvoz- 
dev.  Non-Socialists:  Tereshchenko,  Konovalov, 
Bernatsky,  Salazkin,  Kartashev,  Kishkin,  Smirnov, 
Tretiakov,  Liverovsky,  Verkhovsky,  and  Verderev- 
sky. 

In  its  declaration  to  the  country  the  reconstituted 
Government  says  in  part : 

.  .  .  The  wind  of  anarchy  is  blowing  through  the  land. 
The  thrust  of  the  for-eign  foe  is  increasing  in  force.  Coun- 
ter-revolutionary elements  are  lifting  their  heads  in  the 


THE  PRE-PARLIAMENT  AND  COUNCIL      255 

hope  that  the  interminable  crisis  in  State  authority,  com- 
bined with  the  weariness  which  the  entire  country  ex- 
periences, will  facilitate  their  assassination  of  the  liberty 
of  the  Russian  people. 

Meantime  the  news  from  the  provinces  daily  be- 
comes worse.  Under  the  heading  ''Anarchy,"  in 
big  black  letters,  the  papers  give  accounts  in  short 
telegrams  of  events  in  the  country.  Peasants  set  at 
defiance  regulations  of  the  provisioning  committees 
concerning  the  purchase  of  grain.  The  peasants  are 
chasing  the  bailiffs  of  the  lords  off  the  estates. 
Drunkenness  is  spreading,  owing  to  the  multiplica- 
tion of  illicit  stills.  Here  and  there  a  soviet  takes 
charge  of  its  town  and  runs  it  until  a  government 
expeditionary  force  arrives.  In  the  cities  the  daily 
list  of  robberies  includes  an  increasing  number  of 
the  most  barefaced  and  impudent  kind.  The  num- 
ber of  questionable  resorts  and  night  clubs  is  multi- 
plying.    Gambling  is  enormously  on  the  increase.^ 

1  The  reaction  of  the  working-people  to  the  increasing  profligacy  of 
the  rich  is  significant.  Izve&tia  on  October  6th  publishes  the  follow- 
ing: 

"The  owner  of  the  restaurant  Medved  [The  Bear]  in  Petrograd  in- 
formed his  employees  that  in  the  near  future  a  club  will  be  opened 
in  connection  with  the  restaurant.  Instead  of  expressing  joy  over 
the  forthcoming  increase  in  income,  the  waiters  together  with  other 
employees  protested  against  the  formation  of  a  new  nest  of  gambling 
and  dissipation.  The  owner  replied  that  despite  the  protest  the  club 
will  be  organized. 

"The  employees  authorized  comrade  Tolkachev  to  take  up  with  the 
authorities  this  matter.  The  local  commissariat  and  the  commissary 
of  the  Provisional  Government  informed  the  employees  that  this 
matter  of  gambling  and  its  prohibition  depends  on  whether  the  by- 
laws of  the  club  will  be  approved.  In  the  district  court  which  regis- 
ters and  approves  all  societies  the  employees  were  informed  that 
their  complaint  will  be  taken  into  consideration  when  the  by-laws  of 
the  new  club  will  be  considered. 

"At  the  same  time  the  employees  informed  the  owner  that  besides 
the  Government's  order  and  supervision  they  themselves  will  organize 


256     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

The  Provisional  Government  contemplates  the 
most  energetic  measures  to  combat  the  malady. 
With  a  view  to  consolidating  and  unifying  authority 
it  decides  to  institute  local  committees,  directly  de- 
pending on  the  Provisional  Government,  in  which 
representatives  of  local  public  opinion  will  take  part. 
Commissaries  in  the  disaffected  districts  or  the  local 
military  authorities  will  take  charge  in  case  of  dis- 
orders, but  they  will  act  only  in  strict  unison  with 
the  local  committees.  This  prospect  of  enlisting 
local  people  in  order  to  procure  obedience  shows 
how  the  Government  is  beginning  to  realize  its  own 
impotence. 

On  October  20th  the  Pre-Parliament  is  opened. 
Not  a  hand-clap  greets  Kerensky  when  ho  appears 
and  addresses  it.  He  speaks  of  the  ''tremendous 
anarchy  which  is  developing  in  more  and  more  parts 
of  our  territory."  "Productivity  and  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  national  economic  life  is  falling  and  is 
becoming  worse  every  day."  "All  remedial  meas- 
ures have  broken  against  the  complete  inditference 
and  apathy  and  unintelligence  of  the  wide  masses 
concerning  their  responsibilit,y  to  the  state  and  free- 
dom. .  .  .  With  every  day  the  provisioning  situation 
at  the  fronts  is  becoming  worse." 

Kerensky  then  offers  the  Presidential  chair  to 
Madame  Breshko-Breshkovskaya  a.s  the  oldest  mem- 
ber, who  is  installed  amid  tumultuous  applause. 
Avksentiev  is  elected  president  of  the  body. 

As  the  meeting  is  about  to  close  Trotsky  obtains 

a  supervision  and  with  tlieir  own  efforts  will   prevent  any  kind   of 
gambling  games  besides  puzzles,  preference,  and  'Fools'. 

"This  statement  of  the  eni])loyees  compelled  the  owner  to  give  up 
the  profitable  idea  of  a  gambling  club." 


THE  PRE-PARLIAMENT  AND  COUNCIL     257 

the  floor  and  scathingly  characterizes  the  conduct  of 
Kerensky  and  his  political  allies.    He  says : 

The  officially  proclaimed  aim  of  the  Democratic  Confer- 
ence which  was  called  by  the  Central  Executive  Committee 
of  Soviets  was  the  abolition  of  the  irresponsible  personal 
regime  which  led  to  "Kornilovism,"  and  the  creation  of  a 
responsible  government,  capable  of  ending  the  war  and 
assuring  the  convocation  of  the  Constituent  Assembly  at 
the  appointed  time.  Meanwhile,  behind  the  back  of  the 
Democratic  Conference,  by  means  of  secret  deals  between 
Kerensky,  the  Cadets,  the  leaders  of  the  Social  Revolution- 
ists, and  the  Mensheviks,  just  the  opposite  results  were 
attained;  a  government  is  created  in  which  and  around 
which  both  the  open  and  the  secret  Komilovists  are  play- 
ing the  leading  part.  Irresponsibility  of  this  authority  is 
from  now  on  affirmed  and  proclaimed  formally.  The 
Council  of  the  Russian  Republic  is  to  be  merely  consulta- 
tive. 

At  the  eighth  month  of  the  revolution  the  Government 
creates  for  itself  tliis  blind.  The  propertied  elements  en- 
ter into  this  council  in  excessive  numbers.  The  same  Cadet 
party  which  until  yesterday  insisted  on  the  dependence  of 
the  Provisional  Government  on  the  State  Duma,  now  in- 
sists on  the  independence  of  the  Provisional  Government 
from  the  Council  of  the  Republic.  The  gist  of  the  matter 
is  that  the  bourgeois  classes,  who  are  directing  the  policy 
of  the  Provisional  Government,  made  it  their  aim  to  pull 
down  the  Constituent  Assembly!  [Noise  and  cries:  "It  's 
a  lie!"]  The  propertied  classes  who  are  provoking  a  civil 
rebellion,  are  now  beginning  to  suppress  it  and  are  openly 
steering  toward  "the  bony  hand  of  hunger,"  which  must 
strangle  the  revolution  and,  first  of  all,  the  Constituent 
Assembly.  No  less  criminal  is  the  Petrograd  policy  of  the 
bourgeoisie  and  its  government.  After  forty  months  of 
war  the  ^capital  is  fatally  threatened.     In  reply  to  this  a 


258     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

plan  is  put  forth  to  move  the-  Government  to  Moscow.^ 
The  idea  of  surrendering  the  revolutionary  capital  to  Ger- 
man troops  does  not  bring  forth  any  indignation  from  the 
bourgeois  classes.  [Noise.]  On  the  contrary  it  is  accepted 
as  one  link  of  the  general  policy  which  must  pave  the  way 
for  their  counter-revolutionary  conspiracy,  instead  of  ad- 
mitting that  the  salvation  of  the  country  lies  in  the  con- 
elusion  of  peace,  that  over  the  heads  of  all  governments  a 
definite  proposal  of  peace  should  openly  be  thrown,  which 
would  make  virtually  impossible  any  further  carrying  on 
of  the  war.  The  Provisional  Government,  at  the  order  of 
the  Cadets  and  the  Allied  Imperialists,  without  any  sense 
and  aim,  is  dragging  on  the  fatal  burden  of  war.  At  the 
time  when  Bolshevik  sailors  and  soldiers  are  perishing  as  a 
result  of  the  mistakes  and  crimes  of  others  the  so-called 
supreme  commander-in-chief  continues  to  smash  the  Bol- 
shevik press,  as  for  instance  the  Molot  in  Minsk. 

The  leading  parties  in  the  Council  willingly  serve  as  a 
screen  for  this  entire  policy.  We,  the  faction  of  Social- 
Democrats-Bolsheviks  declare;  with  this  government  of 
treason  to  the  people — 

[Noise  and  cries— ''Enough!  Out!  Down!" — 
compel  the  speaker  to  interrupt  his  speech.] 

In  reply  to  the  noise  boisterous  applause  is  heard 
from  the  seats  of  the  Bolsheviks. 

In  the  Center  somebody  says:  "Citizen  Trotsky, 
you  prepared  the  surrender  of  Petrograd."  The 
Chairman  Avksentiev  calls  Trotsky  to  order  for  his 
last  expression.  The  clamor,  however,  does  not 
cease  for  a  long  time. 

Trotsky  continues: 

With  councils  aiding  counter-revolution  we  have  nothing 

1  Here  Trotsky  accuses  his  opponents  of  contemplating  two  steps 
which  later  he  himself  takes — viz.,  dispersing  the  Constituent  Assem- 
lily  and  removing  the  seat  of  Government  to  Moscow. 


THE  PRE-PARLIAMENT  AND  COUNCIL     259 

in  common.  The  revolution  is  in  danger,  and  at  a  time 
when  the  armies  of  Wilhelm  threaten  Petrograd  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Kerensky  and  Konovalov  are  getting  ready  to 
run  from  Petrograd  in  order  to  turn  INIoscow  into  a  strong- 
hold of  counter-revolution.  Upon  leaving  this  Council  we 
appeal  for  vigilance  and  bravery  on  the  part  of  the  work- 
ers, soldiers,  and  peasants  [Voices  from  the  seats:  "Ger- 
man!"]. Petrograd  is  in  danger,  the  revolution  is  in  dan- 
ger, the  people  are  in  danger.  The  Government  is  contrib- 
uting to  this  danger.  The  ruling  parties  are  helping  it. 
Only  the  people  itself  can  save  itself  and  the  country.  "We 
are  appealing  to  the  people :  long  live  an  immediate,  honest, 
democratic  peace,  all  power  to  the  Soviets,  all  land  to  the 
people,  long  live  the  Constituent  Assembly.  [Applause  in 
the  Bolshevik  benches.] 

Amid  great  confusion  he  leaves  the  platform  and 
the  room.  He  is  followed  by  all  the  Bolsheviks. 
Thereupon  the  meeting  adjourns. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

THE  SOVIET'S  PEACE  TERMS  AND  THE 
''FOURTEEN  POINTS" 

THROUGH  months  of  discussion  the  Russian 
Socialists  have  been  gradually  clarifying  their 
ideas  as  to  how  to  end  the  war,  and  now  these  crys- 
tallize in  a  body  of  instructions  (nakaz)  to  the  dele- 
gate who  is  to  be  sent  to  the  proposed  conference 
among  the  Allies  at  Paris.  The  Central  Executive 
Committee  names  Skobelev,  Menshevik  and  formerly 
Minister  of  Labor  under  Kerensky,  as  its  delegate, 
but,  as  the  Inter- Allied  Conference  fails  to  convene, 
the  peace  program  of  Russian  democracy  does  not 
come  before  the  world. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that,  although  this  pro- 
gram has  taken  form  as  early  as  October  19th,  it 
shows  much  agreement  with  the  famous  "Fourteen 
Points,"  which  President  Wilson  offered  the  world 
as  his  basis  for  peace  in  an  address  to  Congress  on 
January  8,  1918,  eighty-one  days  afterward. 

Below  are  the  proposals  of  the  Soviet  leaders  and 
beside  them  are  printed  for  comparison  the  sub- 
stance of  the  corresponding  points  of  the  American 
President. 

The  Soviets  The  President 

The  new  treaty  must  be  public 
in  regard  to  the  problem  of  the 
aims  of  war.  The  treaty  must  be 
constructed  on  the  principle: 
"Peace  without  annexations  and 

260 


THE  SOVIET'S  PEACE  TERMS 


261 


indemnities  on  the  basis  of  the 
right  of  nations  to  self-determina- 
tion." 

Territorial  Problems 

(1)  The  removal  of  German 
troops  from  the  occupied  Russian 
territories  must  be  an  absolute 
condition  of  peace.  Russia  gives 
complete  self-determination  to 
Poland,  Lithuania,  and  Latvia; 

(2)  Turkish  Armenia  receives 
complete  autonomy  and  later, 
also,  the  right  to  self-determina- 
tion after  local  government  is  es- 
tablished there  and  international 
guarantees  have  been  created; 

(3)  The  Alsace-Lorraine  prob- 
lem must  be  solved  by  a  plebiscite 
of  the  Alsace-Lorraine  popula- 
tion on  the  basis  of  complete  free- 
dom of  suffrage.  The  plebiscite 
must  be  organized  by  local  gov- 
ernments after  the  removal  of 
the  troops  of  both  coalitions  from 
the  province ; 

(4)  Belgium  must  be  reestab- 
lished within  her  former  frontiers. 
Her  losses  must  be  repaid  to  her 
from  an  international  fund; 

(5)  Serbia  and  Montenegro 
must  be  reestablished  and  must 
receive  material  aid  from  an  in- 
ternational fund.  Serbia  must 
have  access  to  the  Adriatic  Sea. 
Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  must 
have  autonomy; 

(6)  The  disputed  territories 
of  the  Balkans  receive  temporary 
autonomy,  which  is  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  a  plebiscite; 


(7)  Rumania  is  reestablished 
within  her  former  frontiers  with 
a  guarantee  that  she  will  give  full 
self-determination  to  Dobroudjia, 
which     receives     immediately     a 


VI  The  evacuation  of  all  Rus- 
sian territory  .  .  . 

XIII  An  independent  Polish 
state  should  be  erected  .  .  . 


XII  The  other  nationalities 
now  under  Turkish  rule  should 
be  assured  an  undoubted  security 
of  life  and  an  absolutely  unmo- 
lested opportunity  of  autonomous 
development  .  .  . 

VIII  .  .  .  The  wrong  done  to 
Franco  by  Prussia  in  1871  in  the 
matter  of  Alsace-Lorraine  .  .  . 
should  be  righted  .  .  . 


VII  Belgium  .  .  .  must 
evacuated  and  restored  .  . 


be 


XI  Serbia  and  Montenegro 
should  be  evacuated;  unoccupied 
territories  restored;  Serbia  ac- 
corded free  and  secure  access  to 
the  sea. 


XI  The  relations  of  the  several 
Balkan  states  to  one  anotlwr  (to 
be)  determined  by  friendly  coun- 
sel along  historically  established 
lines  of  allegiance  and  national- 
ity ..  . 

XI  Roumania  .  .  .  should  be 
evacuated  .  .  . 


262     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 


temporary  autonomy.  Rumania 
agrees  to  can-y  out  at  once  the 
provision  of  the  Berlin  Treaty  re- 
garding Jews  and  must  recognize 
that  they  have  equal  rights  with 
other  Rumanian  citizens; 

(8)  The  Italian  districts  of 
Austria  receive  autonomy,  Avhich 
is  followed  by  a  plebiscite  fts  to 
what  state  they  prefer  to  belong 
to; 

(9)  Germany's  colonies  are  re- 
turned to  her; 

(10)  Greece  and  Persia  are  re- 
stored ; 

Freedom  of  the  Seas 
All  straits  which  give  access  to 
internal  seas,  as  well  as  the  Suez 
and  the  Panama  Canals,  are  neu- 
tralized. Commercial  navigation 
is  declared  free.  The  torpedoing 
of  commercial  ships  is  prohibited. 

Indemnities 

All  warring  countries  renounce 
claims  to  payment  of  all  kinds  of 
expenses,  direct  or  hidden  (main- 
tenance of  war  prisoners).  All 
indemnities  collected  during  the 
war  are  repaid. 

Economic  Terms 

Commercial  treaties  are  not  to 
be  part  of  the  peace  treaties. 
Each  side  is  independent  in  its 
commercial  policy,  and  in  the 
peace  treaty  she  cannot  be  com- 
pelled to  accept  an  obligation  to 
conclude  a  certain  treaty  or  not 
to  conclude  it.  However,  all 
states  must  obligate  themselves 
by  the  peace  treaty  not  to  carry 
on  an  economic  blockade  after  the 
war;  not  to  conclude  separate 
tarifl'  unions;  and  to  give  the 
right  of  the  most  favored  nation 
to  all  countries  without  excep- 
tion. 


IX  A  readjustment  of  the  fron- 
tiers of  Italy  should  be  effected 
along  clearly  recognizable  lines 
of  nationality. 


II  Absolute  freedom  of  naviga- 
tion upon  the  seas,  outside  terri- 
torial waters,  alike  in  peace  and 
in  war  .  .  . 

XII  The  Dardanelles  should  be 
permanently  opened  ...  to  the 
ships  and  commerce  of  all  na- 
tions .  .  . 


Ill  The  removal,  so  far  as  pos- 
sible, of  all  economic  barriers  and 
the  establishment  of  an  equality 
of  trade  conditions  among  all 
the  nations  consenting  to  the 
peace  and  associating  themselves 
for  its  maintenance. 


THE  SOVIET'S  PEACE  TERMS 


263 


Guarantees  of  Peace 
Peace  is  concluded  at  a  peace 
congress  through  plenipotenti- 
aries elected  by  the  organs  of 
peoples'  representatives.  The 
terms  of  peace  are  ratified  by 
parliaments. 

Secret  diplomacy  is  abolished; 
all  agree  not  to  conclude  secret 
treaties.  Such  treaties  are  pro- 
claimed as  contradictory  to  inter- 
national law  and  void.  Also 
void  are  all  the  treaties  before 
they  are  ratified  by  parliaments. 

Gradual  disarmament. on  land 
and  on  sea  and  transition  to  a 
system  of  militia. 

"The  League  of  Peace"  pro- 
posed by  Wilson  may  be  a  valu- 
able victory  for  international 
justice  only  on  the  conditions: 

( 1 )  obligatory  participation 
in  it  of  all  states  on  a  footing 
of  equal  rights; 

(2)  democratization  of  for- 
eign policies  as  indicated  above. 


I  Open  covenants  of  peace 
openly  arrived  at,  after  which 
there  shall  be  no  private  interna- 
tional understandings  of  any  kind 
but  diplomacy  shall  proceed  al- 
ways frankly  and  in  the  public 
view. 

IV  Adequate  guarantees  given 
and  taken  that  national  arma- 
ments will  be  reduced  to  the  low- 
est point  consistent  with  domes- 
tic safety. 

XIV  A  general  association  of 
nations  must  be  formed  under 
specific  covenants  for  the  purpose 
of  affording  mutual  guarantees  of 
political  independence  and  terri- 
torial integrity  to  great  and 
small  states  alike. 


The  American  proposals  are  riper,  more  specific 
and  more  practical  than  the  Russian-Socialist  pro- 
posals, but  it  is  impossible  to  recognize  the  high 
statesmanship  of  the  former  mthout  thereby  con- 
ceding the  statesmanship  of  the  latter. 


CHAPTER  XXV 
THE  NOVEMBER  REVOLUTION 

AFTER  the  September  attempt  the  fore-fighters 
for  the  common  people  lived  in  constant  dread 
of  a  blow  from  one  quarter  or  another.  Kornilov 
with  his  Cossacks  and  his  "Savage"  Division  had 
not  succeeded  but  still  there  were  the  Germans. 
Many  of  the  propertied  took  a  malicious  satisfac- 
tion in  the  perilous  plight  of  Petrograd.  Rodzi- 
anko,  President  of  the  defunct  Duma,  declared  that 
the  surrender  of  Petrograd  to  the  Germans  would  be 
no  great  misfortune.  He  pointed  out  that  upon  the 
entry  of  the  Germans  into  Riga  the  Soviets  were 
dissolved  and  strict  order  was  established  with  the 
aid  of  the  old  police.  No  doubt  the  Baltic  Fleet 
would  be  lost,  but  then  it  was  so  infected  with  Bol- 
shevism that  its  loss  would  be  no  great  calamity  for 
the  country.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  private 
the  Russian  upper  class  were  by  no  means  down- 
hearted at  the  prospect  of  the  loss  of  the  capital  be- 
cause, when  by  peace  treaty  it  should  come  back  to 
them,  its  proletariat  would  have  been  crushed  be- 
tween the  rolls  of  German  militarism. 

In  the  middle  of  October  it  came  out  that  general 
headquarters  was  demanding  the  despatch  of  two 
thirds  of  the  Petrograd  garrison  to  the  front.  To 
the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Petrograd  Soviet 
this   seemed   strange.     Petrograd  menaced   by   the 

264 


THE  NOVE.MBER  REVOLUTION  265 

Germans,  yet  the  larger  part  of  its  garrison  to  be 
removed!  Was  the  idea  to  let  the  Germans  into  the 
capital  in  order  that  Wilhelm's  bayonets  should  re- 
store Property  to  its  rightful  place  in  the  social 
scheme!  The  Sovietists  were  suspicious  and  would 
not  approve  the  demand  for  the  removal  of  two 
thirds  of  the  Petrograd  garrison  without  light  on  the 
military  considerations  which  inspired  this  demand.  ' 

The  need  of  somebody  to  examine  such  proposi- 
tions was  felt  and  so  surged  up  the  idea  of  establish- 
ing alongside  the  Soldiers'  Section  of  the  Soviets 
the  Military  Revolutionary  Committee  (generally  re- 
ferred to  as  the  M.  R.  Committee).  Thus  casually 
was  forged  the  instrument  by  which  the  Bolshevik 
overturn  was  accomplished. 

The  First  All-Russian  Congress  of  Soviets  ad- 
journed in  June  leaving  behind  it  a  Central  Execu- 
tive Committee  of  250  members  which  for  four 
months  has  been  speaking  and  acting  for  the  Russian 
masses.  Its  political  composition  reflects  the  pre- 
ponderance of  the  Mensheviks  and  Social  Revolu- 
tionaries in  June.  Meanwhile,  in  the  mill-race  of 
revolutionary  events,  the  Bolsheviks,  as  a  straight- 
out  proletarian  party,  have  captured  numerous  city 
Soviets  and  believe  that  they  will  have  the  majority 
in  the  next  Congress.  Accordingly,  the  demand 
grows  stronger  for  the  convening  of  the  Second  Con- 
gress of  Soviets.  The  Central  Executive  Commit- 
tee, seeing  the  handwriting  on  the  wall,  resists  as 
long  as  it  can;  but  presently  it  is  settled  that  the 
Congress  is  to  meet  in  Petrograd  on  November  7th. 

With  the  Provisional  Government  a  mere  shell, 
and  with  the  prospect  of  the  gathering  on  November 


266     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

7th  of  a  host  of  newly  chosen  delegates  from  all  over 
Russia  the  majority  of  whom  would  desire  to  see 
the  Soviets  take  charge  of  the  country,  the  Bolshe- 
viks believe  the  moment  opportune  for  seizing  the 
reins  of  power.  Why,  it  may  be  asked,  are  they  loath 
to  await  the  meeting  of  the  Constituent  Assembly 
which  is  to  be  elected  the  last  week  of  November? 
The  answer  is  that  they  fear  a  treasonous  opening 
of  the  front  to  the  Germans  and,  furthermore,  they 
realize  that,  if  the  Germans  should  take  Petrograd, 
the  revolution  might  collapse. 

The  events  of  the  November  revolution  have  been 
described  in  vivid  and  gripping  fashion^  by  out- 
siders. Now  in  the  ''People's  Calendar  for  1919," 
published  by  the  "Union  of  Communes  of  the  North- 
ern District"  we  have  for  the  first  time  the  stories 
of  insiders.     First  let  Podvoisky  speak : 

On  September  22  comrade  Lenin  called  a  conspirital 
conference  from  the  most  active  members  of  the  Central 
Committee,  the  Petrograd  Committee  [Bolshevik  party], 
the  military  organizations,  and  representatives  of  districts. 
At  this  conference  the  question  of  the  rebellion  is  consid- 
ered from  the  point  of  view  of  actual  execution  and  with 
tlie  exception  of  two  votes  the  entire  conference  is  for  it. 
The  next  conference,  on  the  26th  of  October,  which  is  of  a 
different  make-up,  discusses  the  practical  problems  in  con- 
nection with  the  rebellion. 

The  Petrograd  Soviet  assumes  a  leading  part.  In  order 
to  shift  the  discussion  of  the  problem  of  the  rebellion  to 
the  masses  a  conference  of  the  active  party  workers  of 
the  districts  and  of  the  garrison  is  called  on  October  30. 
During  the  night  of  the  same  date  comrade  Lenin  invites 
myself,  Antonov,  and  Raskolnikov  to  visit  him  and  sug- 

1  8ee  John  Reed,  Ten  Days  that  Shook  the  World. 


THE  NOVEMBER  REVOLUTION  267 

gests  that  we  should  organize  a  Military- Revolutionary 
Committee  from  the  representatives  of  the  military  or- 
ganization of  the  party,  the  soldiers'  section  of  the  Petro- 
grad  Soviet,  and  the  military  organization  of  the  Left  So- 
cial Revolutionaries, 

At  the  same  time,  with  comrade  Lenin  we  draw  up  a 
general  outline  of  the  principal  stages  of  seizure  of  author- 
ity. From  this  moment  the  question  of  the  overturn  is 
passed  on  for  discussion  to  the  masses  themselves,  among 
whom  the  necessity  of  the  transfer  of  all  authority  to  the 
Soviets  has  become  more  and  more  insistent.  The  soldiers 
and  the  proletariat,  taught  by  the  bitter  experience  of  the 
July  days,  begin  to  consider  seriously  the  historic  role 
which  they  are  to  carry. 

The  Military-Revolutionary  Committee  begins  to  prepare 
its  plan  of  action.  During  the  next  few  days  at  conferences 
of  the  soldiers  of  the  garrison  an  accounting  of  forces  is 
made,  and  the  forces  are  constantly  growing.  Emissaries 
sent  by  us  to  tlie  northern  front,  to  Finland,  and  to  the 
cities  in  the  vicinity  of  Petrograd,  are  returning  with  re- 
ports as  to  the  readiness  of  all  military  units  to  support  us 
at  the  decisive  moment. 

At  the  meetings  of  the  Petrograd  Soviet  the  matter  is 
hotly  debated  and  all  our  chances  for  victory  are  weighed. 

On  November  3d  the  ]\[ilitary'-Revolutionary  Committee 
sends  commissaries  to  all  regiments.  These  commissaries 
have  divided  the  city  into  districts,  and  have  been  grad- 
ually introducing  the  dictatorship  of  the  Soviets  even  a  few 
days  before  the  overturn. 

Simultaneously  the  Militarj^-Revolutionary  Committee 
mobilized  the  Red  Guard  and  placed  patrols  to  guard 
bridges,  factories,  and  shops,  as  well  as  party  and  soviet 
organizations. 

On  the  night  of  November  3d  the  representatives  of  the 
Military-Revolutionary  Committee  came  to  the  staff  of  the 
Petrograd  District  and  demanded  that  the  staff  be  turned 


268     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

over  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Military-Revolutionary  Com- 
mittee. As  the  staff  refused,  the  Military-Revolutionary 
Committee  thereupon  resolved  to  declare  void  all  orders  of 
the  staff. 

During  the  same  day  the  Military-Revolutionary  Com- 
mittee began  to  organize  the  apparatus  for  provisioning  the 
population  during  the  rebellion. 

Letts  who  were  sent  from  the  front  by  our  emissaries 
began  to  arrive,  and  then  sailors  from  Kronstadt  and  Vi- 
borg,  who  were  called  out  by  us  and  who  were  hostile  to  the 
Provisional  Government.  In  the  place  of  the  forces  who 
were  guarding  the  old  C.  E.  C.  of  Soviets  the  Red  Guard 
was  brought  into  Smolny.  The  ''conciliators"  of  the  C.  E. 
C.  led  by  Tcheidze  vanished.  In  general  during  the  last 
days  the  leaders  of  the  Mensheviks  and  the  Right  Social 
Revolutionaries,  Tseretelli,  Lieber,  Dan,  Avksentiev,  and 
others,  disappeared  from  the  horizon. 

The  plan  for  occupying  all  basic  points  was  finally  com- 
pleted on  November  6th.  The  troops  were  divided  into 
three  groups.  The  first  group  surrounded  by  a  ring  the 
"Winter  Palace  and  all  the  staffs.  A  picked  group  was 
stationed  to  ward  off  all  possible  attacks  on  Smolny.  A 
third  group  defended  the  approaches  to  Petrograd.  Part 
of  these  troops  surrounded  also  all  the  cadet  schools. 

The  troops  were  ready  and  word  was  awaited  to  begin 
the  storming  of  the  Palace  and  of  the  staffs.  But  lack  of 
organization  of  communication  compelled  the  leaders  of  the 
rebellion  to  assume  the  direct  work  of  organization,  and 
this  interfered  with  and  prolonged  the  operations. 

Absence  of  a  single  command  created  uncertainty,  hesi- 
tation, and  delay  in  orders  and  actions.  The  greatest  diffi- 
culty was  the  coordinating  of  the  operations  of  three  groups 
of  soldiers. 

At  three  o'clock  in  Smolny  have  gathered  all  the  leaders: 
myself,  Antonov,  Chuduovsky,  and  Yeremeev,  who  at  a 
hasty  conference   considered   and   reviewed  our  situation. 


THE  NOVEMBER  REVOLUTION  269 

In  accordance  with  the  reports  of  the  scouts  the  Pro\dsional 
Government  had  no  aid  near  Petrograd.  The  troops  which 
were  called  by  the  Government  from  the  front  did  not  re- 
spond. 

It  is  becoming  dark.  Soldiers  are  not  relieved,  cold  and 
hunger  increases  the  grumbling  against  the  delay  in  opera- 
tions. Upon  returning  from  Smolny  the  leaders  begin  to 
draw  in  the  ring  of  troops  around  the  Winter  Palace.  Soon 
the  troops  surround  Palace  Square  and  block  all  exits  from 
it.  At  six  o'clock  we  connect  the  Palace  telephones  and 
summon  the  Provisional  Government  to.  surrender  arms, 
but  it  refuses.  Then  in  the  Peter  and  Paul  Fortress  and 
on  the  cruiser  "Aurora"  guns  are  made  ready  for  action. 

In  order  to  direct  operations  Antonov  went  to  the 
"Aurora"  and  I  went  to  the  Peter  and  Paul  Fortress. 
Comrade  Antonov  was  instructed  to  prepare  for  gun  action 
and  for  landing  of  the  sailors  for  storming  the  Palace.  At 
eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  spokesmen  headed  by  Comrade 
Chudnovsky  were  sent  to  the  Winter  Palace. 

Chudnovsky  suggested  to  the  members  of  the  Provisional 
Government  that  they  should  surrender  to  the  Military- 
Revolutionaiy  Committee.  Palchinsky,  the  acting  govern- 
or-general, instead  of  a  replj^  made  a  speech  to  his  troops, 
asking  them  to  hold  out  till  the  morning,  when  reinforce- 
ments would  arrive  from  the  front.  Part  of  the  troops 
began  to  hesitate.  Heartened  by  it,  Palchinsky  ordered 
that  the  spokesmen  be  detained,  and  even  threatened  to 
shoot  them. 

But  a  short  speech  by  Chudnovsky  about  the  uselessness 
of  any  further  resistance  had  the  proper  influence  on  the 
Palace  troops.  And  just  at  the  moment  when  the  Provis- 
ional Government  became  encouraged  by  the  firmness  of 
one  part  of  its  troops,  another  part  of  them,  consisting  of 
Chevaliers  of  St.  George,  soldiers  of  shock  battalions,  and 
the  Woman's  Battalion,  laid  down  arms. 

Only  cadets  remained  on  the  side  of  the  government. 


270     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

Part  of  them  were  on  barricades  near  entrances  to  the 
Winter  Palace  and  another  part  of  them  went  down  to  the 
basements  of  the  palace  and  decided  to  defend  themselves 
from  there  as  long  as  possible. 

At  that  time  government  artillery  came  out  to  fire  upon 
our  forces,  but  our  ambuscade  on  Morskaya  attacked  it, 
captured  two  guns  and  at  once  trained  them  on  the  Winter 
Palace.  This  had  a  decisive  influence  on  the  mood  of  the 
remaining  defenders. 

.  .  .  Seeing  that  the  spokesmen  were  not  returning  we 
issued  an  order  to  draw  in  the  circle  round  the  Winter 
Palace,  bring  the  reserves  closer,  aim  the  cannons,  move  up 
the  machine  guns,  throw  forward  the  principal  forces  to 
the  corner  of  the  Admiralty,  and  advance  closer  to  the  walls 
of  the  garden  of  the  Winter  Palace.  We  arrived  at  the 
barracks  of  the  Second  Fleet  Company  in  order  to  move 
forward  the  reserves  of  the  sailors.  While  we  were  there 
two  generals  were  brought  in  there  who  give  some  unheard- 
of  names. 

Comrade  Yeremeev  recognizes  in  them  the  commanding 
officer  of  the  Petrograd  District  Bagratuni  and  the  Vice- 
Minister  of  War,  Prince  Tumanov.  The  sailors  want  to 
shoot  them,  but  at  our  insistent  demand  they  are  taken 
to  the  fortress.  It  came  out  later  that  Prince  Tumanov 
was  released  and  was  killed  on  the  streets,  but  it  is  not 
known  by  whom.  While  we  were  making  the  rounds  of  the 
positions  we  were  stopped  on  the  corner  of  Nevsky  and 
Sadovaya  by  a  deputation  from  the  City  Duma,  who  asked 
us  to  allow  them  to  go  to  the  Winter  Palace  and  negotiate 
for  the  purpose  of  preventing  bloodshed. 

We  pointed  out  to  them  the  danger  of  such  a  trip  and 
the  inevitable  firing  from  both  sides,  and  they  decided  to 
go  to  the  General  Staff,  hoping  to  communicate  with  the 
Winter  Palace  from  there,  but  they  did  not  succeed  in 
doing  so.  Wlien  we  reached  the  palace  soldiers  told  us  that 
a  shock  battalion  and  tlie  Woman's  Battalion  had  just  come 


THE  NOVEMBER  REVOLUTION  271 

out  from  the  palace  and  surrendered.  They  had  been  dis- 
armed and  sent  to  the  Peter  and  Paul  Fortress.  We  then 
went  to  the  fortress,  where  we  learned  from  our  com- 
mander, Comrade  Blagonravov,  that  complete  surrender  of 
government  troops  is  taking  place  in  the  Winter  Palace, 
Thereupon,  with  Blagonravov;  we  visited  the  barracks  of 
the  Pavlovsk  and  Preobrazhensky  Regiments.  Here  sol- 
diers standing  around  bonfires  were  celebrating  victory. 
Troops  of  them  went  to  the  Winter  Palace.  Receiving  from 
the  soldiers  confirmation  of  the  surrender,  we  went  to  the 
palace  without  any  precautions  with  the  lights  of  our  auto- 
mobile burning.  But  as  soon,  as  our  automobile  got  on 
the  bridge,  across  the  Winter  Palace  ditch,  near  the  Her- 
mitage, we  were  met  by  machine-gun  fire  from  the  barri- 
cades. Only  the  coolness  and  heroism  of  the  chauffeur, 
who  backed  at  full  speed,  saved  us  from  being  shot.  I  in- 
stinctively dropped  to  the  floor  of  the  automobile  and  Yere- 
meev  and  Blagonravov  jumped  out  on  the  pavement.  The 
chauffeur  quickly  got  the  automobile  out  of  range  of  the 
fire. 

Confusion  spread  among  the  soldiers  who  were  following 
us.  After  a  short  explanation  we  succeeded  in  restoring 
order  among  the  small  units  and  they  again  began  to  move 
on  the  Winter  Palace.  An  order  was  given  to  Plagonravov 
to  return  immediately  to  the  Peter  and  Paul  Fortress  and 
to  open  fire.  Soon  the  first  shot  from  the  fortress  thun- 
dered. As  soon  as  the  guns  began  to  talk  and  shells  began 
hitting  the  Winter  Palace  the  last  hesitations  ended. 

The  cadets  run  out  from  behind  the  barricades  and  begin 
to  shout  that  they  surrender.  Then  our  troops  enter  the 
palace  in  great  masses.  A  search  is  made  and  the  Pro- 
visional Government,  found  in  one  of  the  rooms  of  the 
palace,  is  arrested.  Kerensky  is  not  here  for  he  escaped 
beforehand.     The  ministers  are  led  out  in  the  square. 

Some  of  the  soldiers  want  to  use  violence  against  them, 
but  the  workers  speak  against  lynehings,  and  the  Provisional 


272     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

Government,  surrounded  by  a  close  ring  of  soldiers,  is  taken 
to  the  Peter  and  Paul  Fortress.  In  the  meanwhile  order 
is  reestablished  in  the  Winter  Palace.  The  attempts  of 
some  groups  of  soldiers  to  take  valuables  are  put  down  de- 
cisively by  the  Red  Guards. 

The  sailors  and  the  more  intelligent  soldiers  assume  guard 
of  the  property  of  the  tsars,  which  has  become  people's 
property.  Troops  are  lining  up  on  Palace  Square.  De- 
tachments are  sent  to  occupy  the  staffs,  all  the  ministries, 
the  telegraph,  telephone  exchange,  etc. 

From  another  angle  Antonov  of  the  Military  Rev- 
olutionary Committee  tells  the  tale: 

From  his  hiding-place  Comrade  Lenin  communicated  with 
us  in  Finland  and  advised  us  to  seize  our  opportunity  and 
prepare  an  armed  uprising  for  the  support  of  the  Petro- 
grad  workers.  It  seemed  to  him  also  possible  that  in  case 
of  necessity  a  part  of  the  troops  could  be  taken  from  the 
northern  front  and  brought  to  Petrograd.  He  said  so  in 
a  conversation  with  comrades  Podvoisky,  Nevsky,  and  my- 
self in  his  apartment  on  the  Viborg  side  where  he  was  hid- 
ing at  that  time.  During  this  conversation  Comrade  Lenin 
defended  his  idea  very  energetically  against  the  skeptical 
arguments  of  Comrade  Podvoisky.  The  same  day  I  had  a 
talk  with  Zinoviev  and  remember  his  saying:  "I  will  be 
with  you  for  an  armed  rebellion  if  you  can  prove  to  me 
that  we  could  hold  authority  for  at  least  two  weeks." 
After  the  "talk  with  Lenin  I  entered  into  relations  with 
Dybenko,  because  he  had  great  influence  in  the  Central 
Committee  of  the  Baltic  Fleet,  and  I  discovered  that  in 
spite  of  Lenin's  expectations  this  Central  Committee  could 
send  for  the  support  of  a  Petrograd  uprising  only  a  few 
mine-layers.  Then  I  went  to  the  northern  front,  where  in 
Walk  I  met  the  representatives  of  the  Lettish  Central 
Committee  and  was  present  at  a  party  conference  of  the 


THE  NOVEIMBER  REVOLUTION  273 

Letts.  Here  I  discovered  that  we  cannot  expect  to  have 
the  active  support  of  the  northern  front,  as  the  units  in- 
clined to  us  are  almost  counterbalanced  by  neutral  or  hos- 
tile units.  Moreover,  those  units  in  sympathy  with  us  were 
in  the  front-line  trenches  and  it  would  be  extremely  diffi- 
cult to  call  them  out.  The  northern  territorial  convention 
which  was  called  at  the  initiative  of  the  Finnish  Territorial 
Committee  showed  that  the  Petrograd  uprising  cannot  be 
threatened  by  any  danger  from  garrisons  stationed  in  the 
vicinity  of  Petrograd.  The  situation  was  somewhat  un- 
favorable for  us  only  in  Luga  and  partially  in  Novgorod. 
But  even  there  in  the  Soviets  a  change  in  our  favor  was 
taking  place. 

The  idea  of  creating  the  Military-Revolutionary  Commit- 
tee was  first  suggested  by  the  Bolsheviks,  but  onl.y  in  the 
form  of  a  commission  associated  with  the  Staff  of  the 
District,  which  was  to  consist  of  representatives  of  the 
Central  Executive  Committee  of  the  Fleet,  and  of  the  Petro- 
grad Soviet.  But  the  same  day  at  the  plenary  session  of 
the  Petrograd  Soviet  a  resolution  of  the  Bolsheviks  was 
passed  regarding  the  creation  of  a  revolutionary  staff  as  a 
counterpoise  to  the  Staff  of  the  District.  A  resolution 
protesting  against  withdrawal  of  soldiers  from  Petrograd 
was  also  passed. 

On  October  29th  the  resolution  for  a  Military-Revolu- 
tionary Committee  won  in  the  Petrograd  Soviet,  despite 
the  opposition  of  the  Mensheviks,  who  called  it  the  Bol- 
shevik Staff  for  seizure  of  authority.  From  the  inception 
of  this  committee  the  Menshevik  presidium  of  the  C.  E.  C. 
tried  to  combat  its  growing  influence.  On  its  instiga- 
tion the  Commander  of  the  Petrograd  District  Pokol- 
nikov  called  on  November  1st  a  conference  of  the  garri- 
son in  the  staff  quarters  of  the  district.  At  the  suggestion 
of  a  representative  of  the  Military-Revolutionary  Commit- 
tee this  conference  was  declared  to  be  without  authority. 
In  order  to  counterbalance  this  conference  the  Military- 


274     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

Revolutionary  Committee  had  a  conference  of  its  own  on 
November  3d  at  which  seven  representatives  were  elected 
to  the  Staff  of  the  District. 

November  4th  was  the  day  of  the  Petrograd  Soviet.  In 
all  military  units  meetings  were  arranged  and  they  passed 
off  brilliantly.  During  that  day  a  change'  in  the  attitude  in 
our  favor  took  place  in  the  cavalry  regiment  stationed  near 
Smolny  and  in  the  armored  car  division. 

On  November  5th  the  Military-Revolutionary  Committee 
announced  officially  the  appointment  of  commissaries  in  the 
military  units  and  directed  that  no  orders  be  obeyed  which 
have  not  been  countersigned  by  a  commissary  of  the  Mili- 
tary-Revolutionary committee.  Thanks  to  our  commis- 
saries in  the  arsenals,  it  was  possible  to  check  the  arming 
of  counter-revolutionary  elements.  Shipment  of  ten  thou- 
sand rifles  to  Novo-Tcherkask  was  prevented.  Thereupon 
the  Military-Revolutionary  Committee  received  an  ultima- 
tum from  the  Staff  of  the  District  demanding  that  the 
order  of  the  Military-Revolutionary  Committee  "not  to 
obey  orders  of  the  staff"  should  be  withdrawn. 

The  Menshevik  representatives  Gotz  and  Bogdanov  came 
to  a  meeting  of  the  Military-Revolutionary  Committee,  de- 
manding that  it  should  renounce  its  policy  of  seizing  au- 
thority. Under  the  influence  of  some  conciliatory  elements, 
especially  the  Left  Social  Revolutionaries  and  Comrade 
Riazanov,  a  resolution  was  adopted,  stating  that  the  Mili- 
tary-Revolutionary Committee  is  not  an  organ  for  usurp- 
ing authority,  but  was  created  exclusively  for  the  purpose 
of  defending  the  interests  of  the  Petrograd  garrison  and 
the  Petrograd  democracy  from  counter-revolutionary  and 
pogrom  attempts.  During  these  days  a  conflict  developed 
in  regard  to  the  Peter  and  Paul  Fortress.  The  possession 
of  its  arsenal  was  vital  to  us  for  the  arming  of  the  Petro- 
grad workers  while  the  fortress  itself  was  a  key  to  Petro- 
grad. On  the  night  of  November  4th,  at  a  special  meeting 
of  the  Military-Revolutionary  Committee  I  suggested  that 


THE  NOVEMBER  REVOLUTION  275 

a  few  companies  from  the  Pavlovsk  regiment,  who  were 
faithful  to  us,  should  be  brought  into  the  fortress  to  seize 
it,  but  the  majority  decided  to  hold  meetings  the  following 
day  in  the  fortress  in  the  hope  of  winning  over  the  garrison 
to  our  side.  Accordingly,  meetings  were  held  at  which 
Comrades  Trotsky  and  Leshevitz  spoke  and  all  the  units  of 
the  garrison  adopted  a  resolution  supporting  the  Military- 
Revolutionary  Committee,  so  that  the  fortress  fell  into  our 
hands  without  a  battle.  Energetic  distribution  of  arms  to 
Petrograd  workers  began  immediately. 

The  Provisional  Government  became  alarmed  and  at- 
tempted an  offensive.  On  the  night  of  November  5th  com- 
panies of  cadets  seized  the  printing-shops  of  the  newspa- 
pers The  Soldier  and  EalyocMi  Put  and  put  them  under 
seaL  On  the  following  day  the  Provisional  Government 
announced  the  closing  down  of  those  newspapers  and  the 
arrest  of  the  authors  of  articles  which  had  called  for  an 
armed  insurrection.  The  government  statement  also  men- 
aced with  prosecution  the  members  of  the  Military-Revo- 
lutionary Committee  and  threatened  the  rearrest  of  the 
Bolsheviks  out  on  bail.  At  the  same  time  Pokolnikov 
announced  that  all  the  commissaries  of  the  Military-Revo- 
lutionary Committee  are  removed  and  will  be  tried.  By  a 
secret  order  which  became  known  to  the  Military-Revolu- 
tionary Committee  the  staff  called  to  Petrograd  the  Shock 
Battalion  from  Tsarskoe  Selo,  the  School  of  Officers  from 
Peterhof,  and  artillery  from  Pavlovsk.  All  cadet  schools 
were  ordered  to  be  in  complete  fighting  readiness.  The 
bridges  were  raised  and  guarded  by  cadets.  Quarters  were 
prepared  for  the  Menshevik  C.  E.  C.  in  the  staff  head- 
quarters, while  the  telephones  in  Smolny  were  discon- 
nected. 

On  the  morning  of  November  6th,  bj^  order  of  the  Mili- 
tary-Revolutionary Committee  the  publication  of  the  sup- 
pressed newspapers  was  resumed.  The  seals  placed  on  the 
offices  of  these  newspapers  by  the  Provisional  Government 


276      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

were  torn  off.  Guards  were  placed  in  the  printing-shops. 
The  Military-Revolutionary  Committee  also  issued  several 
orders:  the  regimental  committees  were  ordered  to  bring 
their  regiments  into  fighting  readiness  and  to  await  further 
instructions;  measures  were  taken  to  prevent  the  cadets  in 
the  vicinity  of  Petrograd  from  entering  the  city,  etc.  Then 
an  appeal  was  issued  to  the  population  asking  for  order  and 
assuring  that  the  Military-Revolutionary  Committee  will 
resist  the  counter-revolutionary  conspirators. 

The  Military-Revolutionary  Committee  appointed  a  spe- 
cial commission  of  three,  consisting  of  Podvoisky,  Leshev- 
itz,  and  myself,  to  prepare  plans  for  the  struggle  with  the 
Provisional  Government.  We  issued  orders  to  occupy  rail- 
way depots,  lower  the  bridges,  occupy  the  electric  plant,  the 
telegraph,  the  telephone,  the  Petrograd  telegraph  agency, 
and  the  State  Bank. 

Simultaneously  a  decision  was  adopted  to  disperse  the 
"Council  of  the  Republic."  This  was  carried  out  about 
2  p.  M.  on  November  7th.  The  plan  for  capturing  the  Pro- 
visional Government  in  the  "Winter  Palace,  proposed  by 
me,  was  accepted.  We  learned  that  on  the  side  of  the 
Government  there  are  only  a  few  companies  of  cadets,  the 
Woman's  Battalion  of  Death,  four  guns  of  the  Michael 
Artillery  School  and  a  few  armored  cars,  all  concentrated 
near  the  Winter  Palace.  The  Cossacks  of  the  1st,  4th,  and 
14th  Don  regiments,  with  the  exception  of  a  small  part  of 
the  1st  Regiment,  refused  to  obey  Kerensky's  order  to 
come  out  in  defense  of  the  Provisional  Government  on  the 
ground  that  they  will  not  fight  against  infantry.  Hesita- 
tion in  obeying  us  was  shown  only  in  the  Semenov  Regi- 
ment. The  rest  of  the  units  came  out  to  the  posts  as- 
signed them,  forming  a  semicircle  near  the  Winter  Palace. 
It  was  intended  that  they  should  come  out  on  November 
7th  about  noon.  By  two  o  'clock  a  thousand  Kronstadt  sail- 
ors were  to  arrive  on  the  ship  "Aurora"  and  on  mine-layers. 
They  were  to  land  near  the  Nikolai  Bridge  in  order  to  begin 


^1 


'5  fc 


-r    >. 

'^  I 


THE  NOVEMBER  REVOLUTION  277 

the  attack  on  the  Winter  Palace  after  joining  with  the  Fin- 
nish regiment  and  the  Fleet  Company.  By  eleven  o'clock 
in  the  morning  I  arrived  at  the  Peter  and  Paul  Fortress, 
where  I  made  arrangements  with  the  commandant,  Blagon- 
ravov,  to  take  the  necessary  measures  for  firing  on  the 
Winter  Palace  from  the  fortress  guns.  Here  I  also  made  a 
draft  of  the  ultimatum  from  the  Military-Revolutionary 
Committee  to  the  Provisional  Government  regarding  sur- 
render. Twenty  minutes  were  to  be  given  for  consideration, 
after  which  fire  was  to  open  from  the  Aurora  and  from 
the  Peter  and  Paul  Fortress.  In  order  to  establish  co- 
ordination between  the  ships  and  the  fortress  I  went  to  the 
"Aurora"  and  arranged  the  signals  by  which  fire  should  be 
opened.  The  Aurora  was  to  fire  blank  cartridges  from  her 
six-inch  guns.  The  two  mine-layers  which  had  entered  the 
Neva  would  open  real  fire. 

The  Kronstadt  sailors  were  late,  arriving  only  by  seven 
o'clock  in  the  evening.  The  news  came  that  the  staff  of  the 
Petrograd  District  surrenders.  I  made  my  way  there  in  an 
automobile  under  cross  fire  from  the  Winter  Palace  and 
from  the  square.  In  the  staff  there  were  a  few  soldiers, 
everywhere  there  were  broken  boxes  of  cartridges  and 
machine-gun  ribbons.  A  few  staff  officers,  scared  to  the 
limit,  were  hiding  in  the  corners.  I  ordered  them  to  be 
gathered  into  one  room  and  to  be  put  under  guard,  then 
I  went  out  to  the  Winter  Palace,  near  which  there  was 
shooting.  By  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  firing  from 
the  fortress  began,  as  well  as  from  the  "Aurora."  From 
under  the  arch  of  the  chief  staff  a  cadets'  armored  car  at 
times  covered  Million  Street,  from  which  the  Winter  Palace 
was  being  attacked  by  the  Preobrazhensky  Regiment  and 
the  Red  Guard.  In  general  the  attack  on  the  palace  was  at 
that  time  absolutely  unorganized,  but  its  defense  was  rap^ 
idly  weakening.  The  Cossack  company  left  and  the  guns 
of  the  Michael  School  ceased. 

After  our  artillery  opened  fire  on  the  palace  the  cadets 


278     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

began  to  give  in  and  the  Woman 's  Battalion  of  Death  capit- 
ulated. Those  who  had  surrendered  laid  their  arms  on  the 
pavement  and  went  to  the  barracks  in  Million  Street.  Com- 
rade Chudnovsky,  who  entered  into  negotiations  with  the 
cadets,  agreed  that  they  might  leave  the  Winter  Palace 
with  their  arms,  but  I  set  aside  the  arrangement  and  made 
them  give  up  their  arms. 

Two  or  three  times  small  groups  of  attackers  succeeded 
in  getting  inside  the  palace  but  were  forced  out  again  or 
made  prisoners  by  the  cadets.  Learning  finally  that  there 
were  few  cadets  remaining  Chudnovsky  and  I  led  our  forces 
into  the  palace.  There  was  little  resistance  and  we  hur- 
ried about  in  search  of  the  Provisional  Government.  In 
one  of  the  rooms  we  met  Palchinsky. 

"Don't  you  know,"  he  said,  "that  the  parties  came  to 
an  agreement  and  that  the  members  of  the  City  Duma  led 
by  Propokovich  are  marching  to  the  Winter  Palace  to  lift 
its  siege?" 

"Where  is  the  Provisional  Government,"  we  asked  in 
reply.  He  pointed  somewhere  to  the  side.  At  that  time 
cries  were  heard :  ' '  Here !  here ! "  As  this  proved  a  false 
trail,  we  soon  returned  to  the  room,  where  we  were  met  by 
Palchinsk3%  and  entered  a  large  room  in  which  were  stand- 
ing a  few  cadets  with  their  rifles  ready.  We  left  the 
crowd  at  the  door  and  together  with  Chudnovsky,  holding 
our  hands  up,  we  went  to  the  cadets  and  asked  them  to 
surrender.  After  some  hesitation  they  turned  over  to  us 
their  rifles.  Near  the  door  to  the  right  again  cadets  in 
fighting  readiness  and  here  again  the  mobile  Palchinsky. 
He  runs  out  to  meet  us.  He  tries  to  tell  us  something  but 
Chudnovsky  grabs  him  by  the  sleeve,  pushes  him  toward 
the  crowd  of  the  soldiers,  and  cries  out :  "  I  've  arrested  the 
Governor-General  of  Petrograd." 

The  cadets  hesitate,  but  finally  after  our  arguments  about 
the  uselessness  of  resistance  they  surrender. 

In  the  next  room  we  find  the  members  of  the  Provisional 


THE  NOVEMBER  REVOLUTION  279 

Government.  They  are  sitting  at  the  table  and  altogether 
seem  like  a  pale-gray  shivering  spot.  I  tell  them  that  in 
the  name  of  the  Military-Revolutionary  Committee  they 
are  arrested. 

The  former  ministers  surrender  their  papers  and  arms. 
With  difficulty  I  organize  a  guard  around  them,  being 
aided  by  Finnish  sailors  who  know  me.  They  eject  from 
the  room  some  suspicious  looking  individuals.  Chudnovsky 
prepares  a  list  of  prisoners  which  is  signed  by  us  too.  Al- 
together there  are  sixteen  ministers,  all  being  present  except 
Kerensky  who  had  left  Petrograd  at  eleven  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  This  news  calls  forth  furious  outbursts  in  the 
crowd  against  Kerensky.  Cries  are  heard:  "Shoot  at 
once  all  the  members  of  the  Provisional  Government." 

Only  the  presence  of  ourselves  and  some  tried  Bolshevik 
sailors  saves  the  former  ministers  from  lynching. 

It  remains  only  to  deliver  the  "government"  to  the  Peter 
and  Paul  Fortress.  There  is  no  automobile  handy,  so  we 
have  to  lead  the  ministers  afoot.  I  leave  Chudnovsky  at 
the  Commissary  of  the  Palace  and  organize  the  departure 
of  the  prisoners. 

It  is  two  0  'clock  in  the  morning.  The  ministers  are  sur- 
rounded by  fifty  picked  sailors  and  Red  Guards.  We  leave 
the  palace  and  come  out  into  the  darkness  of  the  square. 

Suddenly  from  the  opposite  end  of  the  square  shots  are 
fired.  The  convoy  is  immediately  disorganized.  In  a  few 
minutes  order  is  reestablished,  but  already  five  ministers 
are  missing.     On  all  sides  are  heard  cries: 

"Why  look  at  them,  stab  them  all  on  the  spot,  or  they 
will  all  escape  ! ' ' 

The  crowd  draws  closer  but  the  convoy  holds  fast  and 
energetically  thrusts  the  crowd  aside. 

Marching  swiftly,  we  reach  the  Troitsky  Bridge.  There 
an  automobile  is  coming  directly  toward  us.  We  try  to 
halt  it  and  fire  is  opened  from  it.  The  ministers  and  the 
guards  fall  to  the  ground.     Shots  are  fired  in  reply.     From 


280     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

the  opposite  end  of  the  bridge  shooting  begins  also.  Evi- 
dently the  Red  Guard  is  joining  in  the  battle.  I  run  to  the 
automobile  and  yell  at  them.  "It  is  ours,  ours."  The 
sailors  swear  and  finally  the  matter  is  settled.  It  is  all  our 
own  people.  The  poor  chauffeur  almost  got  a  beating.  We 
reach  the  Peter  and  Paul  Fortress.  Here  at  the  gate  is  an 
automobile  with  the  five  missing  ministers  and  the  guards 
which  brought  them.  The  entire  government  is  present  ex- 
cept Kerensky.  They  are  taken  to  the  Fortress  Soldiers 
Club.  They  beginning  to  breathe  easier  and  feel  themselves 
safe  and  their  faces  assume  individual  coloring.  They 
are  all  well  except  Tereschenko  who  has  a  bump.  I  make  a 
protocol.  Nikitin  gives  me  some  papers  received  from  the 
Ukrainian  Rada  and  says  that  now  we  will  have  to  disen- 
tangle them.  "We  will,"  I  say  with  assurance.  The 
ministers  are  sent  to  the  cells  and  I  leave  for  Smolny  to 
make  a  report. 

The  narrative  of  Kamenev  sets  forth  the  political 
moves  that  occurred  before  and  during  the  fighting : 

The  principal  part  in  this  work  belongs,  of  course,  to 
Comrade  Lenin.  Even  during  the  Democratic  Conference 
Lenin  considered  that  the  time  was  ripe  for  the  transfer 
of  authority  to  the  Soviets.  As  he  was  compelled  to  live 
underground,  he  demanded  from  the  Central  Committee 
of  our  party  decisive  steps  for  the  organization  of  the  re- 
bellion and  the  overthrow  of  the  Kerensky  government. 
Still  more  insistent  became  his  demand  during  the  few 
weeks  subsequent  to  the  Democratic  Conference.  It  was 
finally  decided  to  call  a  party  conference,  together  with 
comrades  from  Moscow,  for  deciding  the  question  of  re- 
bellion. There  were  two  such  conferences, — one  at  Com- 
rade Kalinin's  in  Liesnoye,  and  the  other  in  the  apart- 
ment which  was  provided  by  Comrade  Sukharova.  To 
both  meetings  Lenin  was  obliged  to  come  disguised  with  a 


THE  NOVEMBER  REVOLUTION  281 

wig,  in  order  not  to  be  caught  by  Kerensky's  spies.  At 
each  meeting  there  were  from  fifteen  to  twenty  persons, 
who  were  later  the  principal  authors  of  the  November  over- 
turn. All  these  were  members  of  the  Central  Committee 
of  the  party  and  leaders  of  the  Petrograd  and  Moscow 
Soviets.  At  these  meetings  Lenin's  insistence  on  the  ne- 
cessity of  giving  battle  to  Kerensky's  government  finally 
prevailed  and  the  "five"  were  elected  who  were  intrusted 
with  the  political  leadership  of  the  struggle.  These  were 
Lenin,  Trotsky,  Stalin,  Dzerzhinsky,  and  myself.  Confer- 
ences of  the  ' '  five ' '  used  to  take  place  in  various  apartments 
of  workingmen  on  the  Viborg  side.  In  Smolny  at  that  time 
was  already  acting  and  directing  operations  the  Military- 
Revolutionary  Committee,  round  which  Comrade  Trotsky 
grouped  the  forces  of  the  Petrograd  garrison.  Only  on  the 
night  of  November  5th  did  events  assume  such  a  decisive 
character  that  it  was  possible  to  concentrate  in  Smolny 
itself  all  activity  in  organizing  the  Revolution.  During 
that  night  Comrade  Lenin  appeared  in  Smolny  for  the  first 
time  since  July,  but  only  a  small  group  of  members  of  the 
Military-Revolutionary  Committee  and  of  the  Central  Com- 
mittee of  the  party  knew  of  it  in  advance. 

In  order  to  indicate  the  degree  of  strain  of  our  work  I 
will  mention  the  following  fact :  During  one  of  the  nights 
there  remained  on  duty  in  Smolny  Trotsky,  I  and  either 
Sverdlov  or  Uritsky,  both  of  them  the  most  active  mem- 
bers of  the  committee.  This  was  the  night  when  cadets 
called  out  by  Kerensky  were  to  come  from  Peterhof  and 
Oranienbaum.  Trotsky  did  not  leave  the  telephone  for  a 
minute,  giving  orders  to  our  commissaries  on  the  railways. 
While  fitting  at  a  table  we  saw  Trotskj'  suddenly  turn  pale, 
gasp  for  air,  and  fall  from  his  chair  to  the  floor.  When  we 
brought  him  to  we  found  that  his  weakness  was  explained 
by  the  fact  that  for  two  days  he  had  not  had  time  to  eat 
anything. 

During  the  day  when  the  Congress  of  Soviets  was  to  open 


282     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

there  were  desperate  clashes  on  the  streets  between  our 
troops  and  Kerensky's  defenders.  To  us  it  was  abso- 
lutely clear  that  not  only  the  working  population  of  Petro- 
grad  was  with  us  but  also  the  entire  Petrograd  garrison.  It 
became  clear  also  that  the  overwhelming  majority  of  the 
Soviet  delegates  which  have  already  arrived  were  with  us. 
It  was  necessary  therefore  to  begin  the  practical  organiza- 
tion of  new  authority. 

At  the  time  when  the  Military-Revolutionary  Committee, 
under  the  leadership  of  Comrades  Sverdlov,  Uritsky,  Joffe, 
Dzerzhinsky,  and  others  were  meeting  on  the  third  floor  of 
Smolny  and  directing  the  seizure  of  all  vital  places,  and 
Comrades  Antonov,  Podvoisky,  and  Chudnovsky  were  pre- 
paring the  capture  of  the  Winter  Palace,  on  a.  lower  floor 
of  Smolny  in  a  small  room,  Number  36,  under  the  chair- 
manship of  Lenin,  was  being  prepared  the  first  list  of 
People's  Commissaries  which  I  made  public  the  following 
day  at  the  Congress.  I  remember  how  Comrade  Lenin  sug- 
gested that  the  new  authority  should  be  called  the  Workers' 
and  Peasants'  Government.  Here  also  were  read  and  dis- 
cussed the  decrees  for  land  and  for  peace  written  by  Lenin 
personally.  These  decrees  were  accepted  almost  without 
debates  or  correction.  It  was  decided  to  abolish  the  old 
title  of  Minister  and  replace  it  by  the  title  People's  Com- 
missary, and  the  government,  I  believe  at  my  suggestion, 
was  called  "The  Council  of  People's  Commissaries."  At 
the  same  conference  was  made  the  first  attempt  at  an  agree- 
ment with  the  Left  Social-Revolutionaries.  They  sent  a 
delegation  to  us,  consisting  of  Kamkov,  Karielin,  and  I 
think  Kolegaev,  which  inquired  of  us  what  we  intended  to 
do.  We  told  them  that  for  us  the  problem  is  solved,  that 
we  are  transferring  authority  to  the  Congress  of  Soviets 
and  are  ready  to  make  up  a  government  from  the  members 
of  our  party,  but  that  we  are  ready  to  give  them  a  few 
places  in  the  government  if  they  will  follow  us  without  any 
reservations.     They  declined,  saying  that  it  will  create  a 


THE  NOVEMBER  REVOLUTION  283 

split  in  their  party  which  they  hoped  to  bring  to  accept  the 
slogan  of  "All  power  to  the  Soviets."  However  we  very 
soon  refuted  this  naive  delusion.  After  these  negotiations 
we  went  to  open  the  Congress  of  which  I  was  made  chair- 
man. It  met  at  the  time  when  a  struggle  was  being  car- 
ried on  around  the  Winter  Palace.  A  few  minutes  were  re- 
quired for  the  reading  of  the  declaration  of  the  Right 
Social-Revolutionaries  and  the  ]\Iensheviks  regarding  their 
leaving  the  Congress,  and  then  the  floor  was  given  to  Com- 
rade Lenin,  who  read  the  decrees  about  peace  and  land, 
which  were  adopted  almost  unanimously.  The  authority 
passed  to  the  Soviets.  The  first  government  of  workers  and 
peasants  was  born.  The  Proletarian  Revolution  was  vic- 
torious. 

It  is  strange  that  the  Provisional  Government  did 
not  take  alarm  at  a  conspiracy  hatched  almost  in 
the  open.  When  the  British  Ambassador  Buchanan 
inquired  of  Kerensky  whether  or  not  he  was  aware 
of  the  military  preparations  of  the  Bolsheviks,  the 
premier  replied  that  the  Provisional  Government 
had  on  its  side  force  enough  to  overcome  any  rising 
should  it  take  place,  Colonel  Pokolnikov,  Com- 
mander of  the  District,  was  so  naive  as  to  issue  an 
order  to  his  troops  forbidding  them  to  yield  to  the 
appeals  for  revolt.  On  Sunday  November  4th  the 
Bolsheviks  were  supposed  to  be  going  "to  do  some- 
thing"— ^nobody  knew  quite  what!  On  November 
5th  ministers  lunching  vdth  the  British  Ambassador 
laughed  at  the  rumors  of  an  uprising.^  The  next 
day  before  the  Council  of  the  Republic  Kerensky 
detailed  the  state  of  affairs  and  set  forth  the  meas- 
ures he  intended  to  take.  After  describing  the  sedi- 
tious appeals  and  proclamations  he  added : 

i  iVIuriel  Buchanan,  The  City  of  Trouble,  p.  174. 


284      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

Two  days  ago  an  order  was  issued  to  the  troops  not  to 
execute  the  orders  of  the  military  authorities  unless  these 
are  countersigned  by  the  commissaries  sent  to  the  regiments 
b}^  the  Petersburg  Revolutionary  Staff.  The  military  au- 
thorities found  this  act  not  only  unlawful  but  clearly  crim- 
inal, and  demanded  that  the  order  be  revoked  forthwith 
and  that  it  should  be  recognized  that  nobody  but  the  local 
authorities  can  dispose  of  the  troops.  The  C.  E.  C.  also 
adopted  this  point  of  view.  But  here  also  the  military 
authorities,  by  my  order,  although  there  were  present  all 
reasons  for  taking  immediate,  decisive  and  energetic  mea- 
sures, found  it  expedient  to  first  give  them  an  opportunity 
to  rectify  their  mistake.  Besides,  there  were  no  actual 
consequences  of  this  order  during  the  first  days  after  its  is- 
suance. 

Despite  several  attempts  to  prevent  the  open  rebellion 
which  threatens  the  population  and  the  country  with  grave 
consequences,  despite  the  appeals  and  propositions  from 
various  public  organizations,  despite  the  imposing  declara- 
tion of  yesterday  by  the  delegates  from  the  front, — the 
Government  did  not  receive  in  time  a  declaration  repudiat- 
ing the  orders  that  were  issued.  Only  at  two  o'clock  in 
the  morning  did  we  receive  a  statement  that  in  principle 
all  the  clauses  presented  in  the  ultimatum  from  the  mili- 
tary authorities  were-  accepted.  At  three  o'clock  the  or- 
ganizers of  the  rebellion  were  compelled  to  state  formally 
that  they  had  committed  an  illegal  act,  which  they  now  re- 
pudiate. 

But  as  I  expected  and  was-  certain  from  the  former  be- 
havior of  these  people,  this  was  another  dilatory  subterfuge. 
[A  vo4ce  from  the  Right:  "You  have  learned  at  last."] 
At  the  present  moment  all  the  time  limits  have  expired  and 
we  have  not  the  statement  which  should  have  been  made 
in  the  regiments.  On  the  contrary,  we  are  confronted  with 
the  opposite, — a  lawless  issue  of  cartridges  and  arms  as  well 
as  the  ordering  of  two  companies  for  the  aid  of  the  Revo- 


a 


THE  NOVEMBER  REVOLUTION  285 

lutionary  Staff.  In  such  manner  I  establish  before  the 
Provisional  Council  the  complete,  clear,  definite  attitude  of 
rebellion  of  a  part  of  the  population  of  Petrograd. 

I  have  suggested  that  the  necessary  action  in  courts  be 
immediately  begun.  [Noise  from  the  Left.]  It  was  also 
suggested  that  the  necessary  arrests  be  made.  [Noise  from 
the  Left  prevents  Kerensky  from  speaking.]  But  listen: 
at  the  present  time  when  the  state  is  perishing  because  of  a 
couvscious  or  unconscious  treachery,  the  Provisional  Gov- 
ernment, I  included,  prefer  to  be  killed ;  but  we  will  not 
betray  the  life,  the  honor,  and  the  independence  of  the 
State.  [All  except  the  extreme  Left  rise  in  their  seats  and 
applaud  noisily.  Adzhemov  cries  out:  "Take  a  photo- 
graph of  these  sitting  down,"  pointing  to  the  extreme  Left. 
Noise  from  the  Left.     Chairman  restores  order.] 

The  Provisional  Government  may  be  reproached  with 
weakness  and  excessive  patience,  but  at  any  rate  no  one  has 
the  right  to  say  that  the  Provisional  Government  during 
the  entire  time  that  I  have  been  at  the  head  of  it  has  had 
recourse  to  any  measures  of  coercion  before  immediate  dan- 
ger threatened  the  State.  .  .  . 

At  this  point  Konovalov  handed  Kerensky  a  note. 
After  reading  it  Kerensky  said : 

I  have  just  received  a  copy  of  a  document  which  is  now 
being  sent  to  all  regiments :  ' '  The  Petrograd  Soviet  is  in 
danger.  I  herewith  order  to  bring  the  regiment  in  complete 
fighting  readiness  and  to  await  further  instructions.  Any 
delay  and  non-execution  of  the  order  will  be  considered 
treason  to  the  revolution.  Chairman  Military  Revolution- 
ary Committee. "     ["  Traitors ! ' '  cry  voices  from  the  Right.] 

Therefore  in  the  capital  at  the  present  time  exists  a  con- 
dition which  in  the  language  of  legal  authority  and  law  is 
called  a  state  of  rebellion.  In  reality  this  is  an  at- 
tempt to  raise  the  rabble  against  the  existing  order,  to 


286     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

tear  down  the  Constituent  Assembly,  and  to  open  the  front 
to  the  iron  fist  of  Wilhelm.  [Voice  in  the  Center:  "Cor- 
rect." On  the  Left,  noises  and  cries:  "Enough."]  I 
fully  realize  what  I  am  saying:  the  rahhle,  because  the  en- 
tire "conscious"  democracy,  the  Central  Executive  Com- 
mittee, all  army  organizations  and  everything  of  which 
Russia  is  proud  and  should  be  proud,  the  reason,  the  con- 
science and  the  honor  of  the  great  Russian  democracy,  are 
protesting  against  this.  [Stormy  applause  of  all  except 
the  extreme  Right.] 

He  ended  his  speech  with  the  words : 

From  this  platform  I  am  authorized  to  say:  The  Pro- 
visional Government  because  of  a  definite  view  regarding 
the  present  state  of  affairs  considered  it  to  be  one  of  its 
principal  duties  not  to  bring  on  any  sharp  or  determined 
encounters  before  the  meeting  of  the  Constituent  Assembly. 
But  at  the  present  time  the  Provisional  Government  de- 
clares: those  elements  of  Russian  society  who  dare  to  raise 
their  hands  against  the  free  will  of  the  Russian  people, 
threatening  at  the  same  time  to  open  the  front  to  Germany, 
must  be  immediately  and  finally  disposed  of.  [Stormy  ap- 
plause from  the  Right,  the  Center,  and  a  part  of  the  Left. 
Laughter  on  the  extreme  Left.]  Let  the  population  of 
Petrograd  know  that  it  will  meet  a  determined  authority, 
and  perhaps  at  the  last  minute,  reason,  conscience  and  honor 
will  be  victorious  within  the  hearts  of  those  people  who 
still  have  hearts.  I  request  you  in  the  name  of  the  coun- 
try, yes,  I  demand,  that  to-day,  at  this  very  meeting,  the 
Provisional  Government  should  receive  a  reply  from  you 
that  it  can  do  its  duty  with  the  assurance  of  the  support 
of  this  high  assemblage.  [Stormy  applause  on  the  Right 
and  in  the  Center,  which  becomes  an  ovation.] 

Even  in  this  crisis  the  Council  of  the  Republic 
split  into   a   Right   and  Left;   competing  motions 


THE  NOVEMBER  REVOLUTION  287 

opened  the  flood-gates  of  debate  and  while  the  speak- 
ing went  on  army  trucks  went  thundering  about  the 
city  and  firing  began  in  the  streets. 

The  next  day  a  crowd  of  sailors  forced  their  way 
into  the  Marie  Palace  and  one  of  them  stepped  up 
to  President  Avksentiev,  "Stop  talking,"  he  said. 
' '  Go  home.     There  is  no  Council  of  the  Republic. ' ' 

It  was  indeed  so. 

Four  days  after  the  fall  of  the  Winter  Palace 
some  cowardly  bourgeoisie  attempted  a  counter- 
stroke  by  setting  on  the  cadets  of  the  military  and 
engineering  schools,  many  of  whom  had  been  re- 
leased on  parole  when  the  palace  was  taken.  Two 
officers  visited  the  military  school,  declared  that 
Kerensky  was  about  to  enter  Petrograd  with  two 
regiments  and,  producing  a  stolen  Bolshevik  seal 
and  forged  passes,  ordered  them  to  take  and  hold 
the  War  Hotel  and  the  telephone  exchange.  The 
cadets  obeyed  and  nothing  but  the  determination  of 
Antonov  saved  them  from  massacre  when,  after  an 
all-day  siege,  the  Red  Guards  retook  the  buildings. 

The  military  school  from  which  the  raid  was  en- 
gineered replied  with  bullets  when  summoned  to  sur- 
render. Armored  cars  and  a^rtillery  were  brought 
up  and  the  cadets  were  given  ten  minutes  to  yield. 
As  they  renewed  fire  from  the  windows,  the  walls 
were  breached  by  cannonade  and  the  building  taken 
by  storm.  A  number  of  the  poor  lads  lost  their 
lives,  some  of  them  being  cruelly  killed  by  the  ex- 
asperated sailors. 

On  November  12th  word  came  that  Kerensky  with 
fifteen  hundred  Cossacks  under  General  Krasnov 
was   approaching.     The   Soviets   of   Tsarkoe   Selo, 


288     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

Krasnoye  Selo  and  Gatchina  tried  talk  and  frater- 
nization, which  had  wrought  such  wonders  in  stop- 
ping Kornilov,  but  mthout  success.  The  Cossacks 
kept  coming  on.  Lacking  encouragement  from  their 
officers  the  garrisons  of  these  towns  showed  no  fight, 
while  the  Petrograd  garrison  was  aghast  at  the  pros- 
pect of  having  actually  to  face  fire.  Accordingly  the 
Bolshevik  leaders  appealed  directly  to  the  working 
class  not  to  allow  the  new  regime  to  be  overthrown. 
The  workers  responded  with  alacrity.  Thousands 
moved  out  toward  the  coming  troops  and  dug 
trenches,  while  the  workers  in  the  factories  provided 
guns  and  munitions.  Meeting  with  fierce  artillery 
fire  the  Cossacks  fell  back  in  dismay,  for  they  had 
been  assured  that  they  would  meet  with  no  serious 
resistance.  The  next  day  from  scouts  sent  to  the 
capital  they  learned  how  strong  were  its  forces  of 
defense  and  how  rash  it  would  be  to  try  to  take 
Petrograd  with  a  few  hundred  Cossacks.  Krasnov 
mthdrew  to  Gatchina,  and  when  the  Red  Guard 
reached  there  the  next  day  he  and  his  staff  were 
virtually  prisoners  of  their  own  men.  Kerensky 
escaped. 

In  Moscow  the  fighting  was  far  more  prolonged 
and  sanguinary.  For  seven  days  there  was  almost 
continuous  firing.  Shells  crashing  into  the  upper 
rooms  sent  the  guests  of  the  Metropole  and  the  Na- 
tional hotels  to  the  cellars  for  safety,  the  streets 
near  the  heart  of  the  city  were  swept  with  the  fire 
of  rifles  and  machine  guns  and  some  of  the  beautiful 
churches  of  the  Kremlin  suffered.  A  few  days  later 
I  was  moved  at  seeing  bands  of  pious  women  gazing 
with  wot  eyes  at  the  rents  made  by  shells. 


THE  NOVEMBER  REVOLUTION  289 

On  the  one  side  fought  cadets  and  officers ;  on  the 
other  side  factory  workers  and  perhaps  five  thou- 
sand of  the  Moscow  garrison,  which,  as  a  whole,  had 
agreed  to  remain  neutral.  The  Whites  looked  for 
help  from  the  front,  but  when  it  became  clear  that 
the  front  was  against  Kerensky  they  gave  in  to  the 
Soviet.  Perhaps  seven  or  eight  hundred  people  lost 
their  lives,  mostly  workers,  for  they  were  the  at- 
tackers and  were,  moreover,  men  without  experience 
in  warfare.  Like  a  long  rolling  peal  of  thunder  the 
news  of  these  tremendous  events  reverberated 
through  Russia.  Everywhere  the  local  Soviet  rose 
against  the  Kerensky  commissaries  and  the  city 
duma  and  took  over  governmental  authority.  In 
no  case  did  the  propertied  seize  rifles  and  fight  for 
their  cause  as  the  workers  did.  They  had  no  such 
will-to-power. 

The  bourgeoisie  were  utterly  stunned  by  the  pro- 
letarian coup  d'etat.  They  could  not  imagine  Russia 
governed  by  its  hand-workers.  They  were  sure  that 
without  their  direction  society  would  sink  into  chaos. 
They  cherished  the  faith  that  in  some  mysterious 
way  things  would  right  themselves,  that  brains  and 
education  were  bound  somehow  to  come  on  top. 
One  morning  about  a  fortnight  after  the  overturn 
I  interviewed  five  important  men  of  affairs  in  Ros- 
tov-on-the-Don.  Each  assured  me  that  in  two  weeks 
the  bourgeoisie  would  be  again  in  the  saddle.  I 
came  up  to  Moscow  and  there  no  one  gave  ''this 
rabble"  a  longer  shrift  than  three  weeks.  Three 
years  and  five  months  have  passed  and  there  they 
are! 


CHAPTER  XXVI 
THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY 

DESPISING  the  tatterdemalion  proletariat  and 
assured  that  within  a  few  days  their  leaders 
would  be  thrust  back  into  the  obscurity  whence  they 
had  emerged,  the  thousands  of  oflficials  and  employ- 
ees in  the  ministries  went  on  ''Italian  strike." 
When  the  People's  Commissaries  presented  them- 
selves at  the  government  offices,  they  found  locked 
doors  or  else  were  met  by  officials  who  refused  even 
to  speak  to  them.  Bureaus  would  be  locked  up  be- 
fore their  faces  and  the  keys  carried  away.  There 
was  no  getting  hold  of  books  or  funds.  The  tele- 
phone exchanges  refused  to  connect  the  commissar- 
ies. The  telegraph  offices  would  mutilate  or  delay 
their  messages.  Translators,  stenographers,  and 
copyists  were  not  to  be  had.  For  some  weeks  most 
of  the  governmental  machinery  was  at  a  standstill, 
seeing  that  men  competent  to  do  the  work  of  these 
employees  were  few  in  the  ranks  of  the  Bolsheviks, 
Nevertheless,  means  were  found  to  make  the 
wheels  turn.  On  the  second  day  after  the  November 
revolution  Trotsky,  Commissary  for  Foreign  Af- 
fairs, presented  himself  at  the  Foreign  Office.  The 
employees  were  on  strike,  the  offices  were  empty,  so 
he  went  home.  A  week  later  a  notice  was  posted 
to  the  effect  that  employees  occupying  quarters 
owned  by  the  State  would  be  evicted  if  they  did  not 

290 


THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY  291 

report  for  duty.  Summoned  to  present  themselves 
to  Trotsky,  the  higher  officials  came  to  the  ministry 
and  delivered  up  the  keys  to  the  cabinets,  declaring 
that  they  did  so  under  coercion.  As  the  strike  con- 
tinued, on  November  26th  Trotsky  dismissed  without 
pension  privileges  the  assistant  ministers  and 
thirty-one  other  officials.  Thereupon  most  of  the 
functionaries  returned  without  fuss  or  scandal  and 
resumed  their  work. 

The  saboteurs  were  similarly  attacked  in  other 
quarters.  The  Commissary  of  Posts  and  Tele- 
graphs issued  the  order,  ''All  the  employees  and 
officials  who  do  not  recognize  the  authority  of  the 
Council  of  People 's  Commissaries  and  my  authority 
as  director  of  the  department  are  dismissed  from 
their  positions  without  pension  privileges.^' 

Many  State  employees,  however,  braved  even  this 
threat,  for  the  bourgeoisie  who  were  paying  their 
salaries  told  them  that  the  new  regime  might  tumble 
at  any  moment.  It  was  in  order  to  cut  off  the 
stream  of  funds  supporting  this  strike  that  restric- 
tions were  imposed  on  the  amount  of  money  which 
depositors  might  draw  from  the  banks  or  the  safety- 
deposit  vaults.  One  was  limited  to  150  rubles  a 
week.  The  strike  ended  when  the  dissolution  of  the 
Constituent  Assembly  showed  the  stability  of  the 
new  regime,  but  by  this  time  the  places  of  many  of 
the  strikers  had  been  filled  and  numbers  of  officials 
found  themselves  obliged  to  accept  any  work  the 
Bolsheviks  would  offer  them  or  else  take  up  physical 
labor.  Thus  the  endeavor  to  sabotage  the  new  gov- 
ernment was  a  complete  failure. 

It  was  the  Second  All-Russian  Congress  of  Soviets, 


292      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

convened  on  the  very  day  the  Winter  Palace  was  at- 
tacked, that  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Soviet  sys- 
tem. The  executive  power — as  well  as  a  limited  leg- 
islative power — was  vested  in  a  Council  of  People 's 
Commissaries,  corresponding  to  our  Cabinet  or  min- 
istry. A  Central  Executive  Committee  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  persons  selected  by  the  Congress  of 
Soviets  and  the  Peasants'  Congress  constituted  a 
kind  of  parliament.  The  decree  creating  the  council 
named  Lenin  as  its  president  and  Trotsky  as  Com- 
missary of  Foreign  Affairs. 

It  was  essential  to  win  over  the  peasants  to  the 
new  order,  so  the  congress  promptly  gave  the  force 
of  law  to  the  land  acts  which  had  been  worked  out 
by  the  June  Congress  of  Peasants.  All  the  landed 
estates  with  their  movable  and  immovable  property 
were  nationalized  excepting  the  small  holdings  of 
peasants  and  Cossacks.  Their  administration  was 
left  to  district  land  committees  or  district  Soviets. 
The  right  to  use  the  land  was  granted  to  all  citizens 
of  either  sex  capable  of  cultivating  it  by  personal 
or  family  labor.  The  amount  of  land  to  be  assigned 
to  an  individual  depended  on  the  needs  and  condi- 
tions of  the  community.  Such  land  could  not  be 
sold,  leased,  or  mortgaged  for  it  was  public  prop- 
erty, but  a  limited  right  of  transmission  was  recog- 
nized in  the  phrase,  "The  right  of  preference  for 
receiving  the  estate  of  the  retiring  members  [of  the 
community]  belongs  to  the  nearest  relative,  or  to 
persons  indicated  by  the  retiring  member."  Hired 
labor  was  not  allowed.  If  a  farmer  fell  sick  and  his 
family  could  not  till  his  holding,  the  community  was 


THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY  293 

to  look  after  it  for  two  years.  Farmers  who  from 
incapacity  or  old  age  lost  permanently  the  ability  to 
cultivate  their  land  personally  must  give  up  their 
holding,  but  they  received  instead  a  state  pension. 

The  decree  about  peace  declared  that  the  Govern- 
ment of  Workers  and  Peasants  had  addressed  a  pro- 
posal to  all  belligerents  to  conclude  an  immediate 
armistice  upon  all  fronts. 

So  much  for  land  and  peace.  The  third  promise 
that  had  carried  the  Bolsheviks  into  power,  ''Work- 
ers' control  of  the  factories,"  was  fulfilled  by  a  de- 
cree which  applied  to  all  industries  employing  labor 
and  provided  for  control  by  committees  representing 
laborers  and  employers,  called  ''organs  of  labor 
control."  These  committees  had  access  to  all  the 
books,  accounts,  and  correspondence  of  the  enter- 
prise and  were  entitled  to  super\ase  production  and 
ascertain  the  cost  price  of  products.  Each  employer 
and  employee  had  the  right  of  appeal  to  an  All- 
Russian  soviet  of  labor  control  which  should  co- 
ordinate all  industries  and  direct  economic  life. 

Another  decree  wiped  out  all  divisions  of  citizens 
into  classes,  all  class  distinctions  and  privileges  and 
all  class  organizations  and  institutions.  Ranks  were 
abolished  and  the  one  denomination  "citizen"  was 
established  for  all  the  population  of  Russia.  All 
the  property  of  the  class  institutions  of  the  nobility 
as  well  as  of  the  merchants'  and  burgesses'  corpora- 
tions was  to  be  handed  over  immediately  to  local 
authorities. 

A  fuller  examination  of  the  legislation  of  the 
Soviet  Government  as  well  as  a  studv  of  the  actual 


294     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

working  out  of  the  new  social  system  is  reserved  for 
a  volume  I  hope  to  publish  under  the  title,  The 
Russian  Soviet  Republic. 

In  the  middle  of  October  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment fixed  November  25th  as  the  day  for  electing 
the  members  of  the  Constituent  Assembly  and  De- 
cember 13th  as  the  date  of  convening  this  body. 
Twice  the  government  had  postponed  these  elections, 
but  there  is  no  reason  to  suspect  a  sinister  intent 
behind  these  delays.  To  create  in  tens  of  thousands 
of  districts  all  over  this  huge  expanse  the  adminis- 
trative machinery  for  compiling  registers  for  ninety 
million  adults  of  both  sexes  was  a  vast  undertaking, 
all  the  greater  because  so  much  of  the  nation's 
energy  was  absorbed  in  the  war.  Communication 
and  transport  were  badly  disorganized,  and  it  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  the  bulk  of  the  rural  popula- 
tion live  leagues  from  a  railway,  for  Russia  is 
scarcely  a  fifth  as  well  supplied  with  railways  as 
the  United  States.  In  view  of  the  shortage  of  paper 
and  the  paralysis  creeping  over  industry,  the  mere 
providing  of  registers  and  a  hundred  million  sets 
of  electoral  stationery  was  a  heavy  task.  Neverthe- 
less, if  it  had  been  possible  to  convene  the  Con- 
stituent Assembly  in  August,  the  peasants  would  not 
have  chased  the  nobles  from  their  estates,  the  army 
would  not  have  disintegrated  in  advance  of  peace 
negotiations,  and  there  would  have  been  no  seizure 
of  governmental  power  by  the  working  class.  In 
fact,  Russian  history  would  probably  have  pursued 
a  very  different  course.  When  the  old  order  fell 
the  poor,  ignorant,  suffering  masses  were  told  that 
they  must  wait,  for  it  would  take  some  time  to  obtain 


THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY  295 

peace  and  land  in  an  orderly  way.  Generally  they 
were  willing  to  be  patient  a  little  longer ;  but  it  never 
entered  their  heads  that  snow  would  fly  again  before 
the  first  step  had  been  taken  toward  realizing  their 
hopes ! 

Coming  only  eighteen  days  after  the  November 
revolution  the  elections  of  November  25th  (and  the 
following  days,  for  in  many  places  the  voting  was 
long  drawn  out)  may  well  have  failed  to  reflect  faith- 
fully the  will  of  the  people  at  that  time.  Propor- 
tional representation,  of  course,  involves  voting,  not 
for  a  particular  individual,  but  for  a  Kst  of  candi- 
dates drawn  up  by  the  Central  Committee  of  the 
party.  As  these  lists  had  been  dra^vn  up  two  or 
three  months  before,  the  split  of  the  great  Social- 
Revolutionary  party,  so  favored  by  the  peasants, 
into  pro-Kerensky  Right  and  pro-Lenin  Left,  did  not 
show  itself  in  these  lists.  Hence,  it  may  be  that  the 
proportion  (one  ninth)  of  Left  Social  Revolution- 
aries elected  to  the  Constituent  Assembly  by  no 
means  corresponded  to  the  proportion  of  Social- 
Revolutionary  voters  favoring  Soviet  rule.  In  a 
word,  the  great  leftward  drift  of  the  masses  in  the 
course  of  recent  months  may  not  have  been  ade- 
quately disclosed  in  the  results  of  the  elections. 

Petrograd  gave  415,587  votes  to  the  Bolsheviks, 
245,628  to  the  Cadets,  and  149,644  to  the  Social 
Revolutionaries.  Moscow  gave  363,282  votes  to  the 
Bolsheviks,  260,277  to  the  Cadets,  and  61,394  to  the 
Social  Revolutionaries.  It  was  among  the  peasants 
that  the  Social  Revolutionaries  were  strong.  The 
Cadets  gained  only  eighteen  seats  in  the  Assembly, 
the  Mensheviks  only  three  seats.    From  his  study  of 


296      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

the  election  statistics,  Brailsford  has  lately  declared 
that  ''the  Bolsheviks  polled  a  clear  fifty-five  per 
cent,  of  all  the  votes  cast  in  northern  and  central 
Russia,  including  Moscow,  Petrograd,  and  the  north- 
western and  west-central  armies.  They  were  out- 
voted in  the  richer  outlying  parts  of  Russia,  the 
Ukraine,  the  South,  the  Caucasus  and  Siberia,  where 
the  Social  Revolutionaries  predominated." 

As  soon  as  it  became  evident  that  the  supporters 
of  the  new  order  were  to  be  in  the  minority  in  the 
Constituent  Assembly,  the  People's  Commissaries 
assumed  a  hostile  attitude  toward  this  ''Master  of 
the  Russian  Land"  of  which  the  oppressed  had  been 
dreaming  for  generations.  Early  in  December  the 
newly  elected  members  began  to  arrive  in  Petrograd 
and  now  all  who  dreaded  the  path  of  violence  staked 
their  hopes  on  the  opening  of  the  Assembly.  Were 
it  allowed  to  function  as  intended,  Russia  might  yet 
be  spared  the  horrors  of  social  war.  All  the  ar- 
rangements for  the  convocation  of  the  Assembly  had 
been  entnisted  by  the  Provisional  Government  to 
a  special  commission.  These  commissioners  were 
now  arrested  and  Uritzky,  a  Bolshevik,  was  ap- 
pointed "Commissary  for  the  Constituent  Assem- 
bly. ' '  He  began  by  announcing  that  deputies  would 
not  be  allowed  to  sit  till  he  had  examined  their  cre- 
dentials and  issued  certificates  of  authorization.  It 
was  furthermore  decreed  that  the  Assembly  should 
not  meet  officially  until  400  members — out  of  730  in 
all — were  in  Petrograd. 

On  December  11th,  Commissary  Uritzky  sat  in  his 
office  in  the  Tauridc  Palace  waiting  for  deputies  to 
submit  their  credentials;  but  none  appeared.     All 


THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY  297 

non-Bolshevik  deputies  had  agreed  to  ignore  him 
and  his  government.  After  a  preliminary  ''pri- 
vate" meeting  in  a  committee  room,  about  fifty 
members  came  together  in  the  Session  Hall  of  the 
palace  and  agreed  that  they  would  meet  daily  until 
a  quorum  were  present.  Meanwhile,  in  the  capital 
a  great  demonstration  was  staged  in  support  of  the 
Assembly.  Processions  of  students,  cadets,  bank 
clerks,  railway  servants,  postal  and  telegraph  em- 
ployees, municipal  employees,  and  a  few  workmen, 
as  well  as  deputations  from  the  City  Duma,  the 
State  Bank,  and  the  ministries,  marching  under  ban- 
ners and  singing  revolutionary  songs,  paused  before 
the  Tauride  Palace  to  be  addressed  by  some  member 
of  the  Assembly. 

On  the  following  day  when  the  deputies  reached 
the  palace  they  found  it  thronged  with  soldiers  and 
bristling  with  machine-guns.  Many  of  the  troops 
were  Letts  and  Lithuanians,  ignorant  of  Russian 
and  therefore  inaccessible  to  arguments  and  appeals. 
Although  all  the  rooms  and  halls  were  guarded,  the 
deputies  intimidated  the  sentries  and  held  another 
no-quorum  meeting  in  the  Session  Hall.  On  Decem- 
ber 13th  the  deputies  were  informed  that  within  the 
walls  of  the  building  no  meetings  would  be  allowed 
of  persons  unprovided  with  Uritzky's  certificates. 
In  response  to  their  dignified  protest  the  officer  of 
the  guard  addressed  his  soldiers: 

''Comrades,  there  are  gathered  here  impostors 
who  call  themselves  members  of  the  Constituent 
Assembly.  You  are  familiar  with  the  order.  They 
are  supposed  to  get  certificates.  We  are  going  to 
show  them  out." 


298      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

And  the  deputies  filed  from  the  room  and  along 
the  corridor  between  close  ranks  which  barred  every 
passage  except  that  leading  to  the  exit.  No  wonder 
a  peasant  graybeard  remarked  with  emotion:  ''For 
the  people's  sake,  the  Social-Revolutionaries  per- 
ished in  dungeons  and  languished  in  the  wastes  of 
Siberia,  dreaming  of  the  day  when  an  authoritative 
Constituent  Assembly  would  meet;  and  now  that  it 
is  here,  our  children,  soldiers  and  sailors,  seize  us 
by  the  arms  and  drag  us  out  of  it  by  force." 

It  was  not  until  January  18th  that  the  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  members  who  meanwhile  had  gathered 
in  Petrograd  were  allowed  to  meet. 

Two  days  before,  the  C.  E.  C.  had  warned  that, 
since  all  power  in  the  Russian  Republic  belongs  to 
the  Soviets  and  Soviet  institutions,  any  attempt 
from  any  quarter  to  appropriate  any  functions  of 
State  authority  would  be  considered  a  counter- 
revolutionary action  and  suppressed  by  all  means 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Soviet  authorities  including 
armed  force.  The  effrontery  of  calling  '*  counter- 
revolutionaries" those  fellow-Socialists  who  stood 
for  a  free  and  sovereign  Constituent  Assembly  such 
as  all  had  shouted  for — Bolsheviks  louder  even  than 
the  rest  up  to  a  few  weeks  before — is  monumental. 

On  the  day  of  meeting  a  popular  demonstration  of 
sympathy  was  attempted  under  the  banners  **A11 
Power  to  the  Constituent  Assembly,"  ''Long  Live 
the  Master  of  the  Russian  Land."  Li  endeavoring 
to  approach  the  Tauride  Palace,  the  paraders  were 
resisted  by  Red  Guards  and  sailors  and  a  hand-to- 
hand  fight  ensued-  in  which  twelve  were  killed. 

The  gathering  deputies  were  astonished  to  find  two 


THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY  299 

thousand  Red  Guards  and  sailors  not  only  occupy- 
ing the  building  and  grounds  of  the  palace  but  pres- 
ent in  the  Session  Hall  itself.  Sverdlov,  chairman 
of  the  C.  E.  C.  of  the  AU-Russian  Soviet,  opened 
the  Assembly  with  a  statement  of  what  the  Soviet 
Government  had  done  and  proposed  that  the  Assem- 
bly ratify  this  legislation  and  endorse  the  Soviet  sys- 
tem. The  Right  Social  Revolutionaries  put  up  Tcher- 
nov  for  president,  the  Bolsheviks  and  Left  S.  R.'s 
nominated  Maria  Spiridonova.  Both  sides  were 
courting  peasant  support.  Tchernov  was  elected  by 
244  votes  to  153,  6  abstaining.  It  therefore  appeared 
that  the  Bolshevik  coup  d'etat  had  the  approval  of 
about  38  per  cent,  of  those  present.  Its  opponents 
were  all  Social  Revolutionaries,  for  no  Cadet  or 
Menshevik  dared  show  his  face. 

In  his  presidential  address  Tchernov  hoped  that 
the  Assembly  would  make  an  effort  to  secure  a  real, 
democratic,  and  general  peace  by  calling  an  In- 
ternational Socialist  Conference,  for  the  present 
peace  overtures  had  not  met  with  a  sjTupathetic 
response.  He  concluded  with  the  emphatic  state- 
ment that  the  Constituent  Assembly  is  the  sovereign 
authority  in  Russia. 

The  debate  which  followed  made  clear  that  both 
majority  and  minority  favored  immediate  peace, 
and  the  nationalization  of  the  land  without  compen- 
sation to  owners.  Only  two  issues  held  them  apart. 
The  Bolsheviks  stood  for  the  control  of  factories 
by  the  workers  and  their  eventual  socialization,  while 
their  opponents  deemed  Russia  unready  for  a  plunge 
into  collectivism.  The  Bolsheviks  saw  in  the  Russian 
revolution  a  means  of  bringing  about  social  overturn 


300      THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

throughout  the  world,  while  the  S.  E.'s  were  ab- 
sorbed in  the  fate  of  Russia  herself. 

When  the  Assembly  voted  to  consider  war  and 
peace  first  instead  of  defining  its  attitude  toward  the 
Soviets,  the  Bolshevik  members  bolted,  declaring 
that  in  refusing  to  recognize  the  Government  of  the 
People's  Commissaries  the  Constituent  Assembly 
had  thrown  down  the  gauntlet  to  all  laboring  Russia. 
Soon  after,  the  Left  S.  R's.  followed  them,  and  at 
five  o  'clock  in  the  morning,  under  threats  of  violence 
from  the  soldiers  and  sailors  present,  the  Assembly 
adjourned  never  to  meet  again.  The  next  day  ap- 
peared a  decree  which  said : 

The  old  bourgeois  parliamentarism  is  effete  and  incom- 
patible with  the  aim  of  realizing  Sociahsm.  It  is  not  gen- 
eral, national  institutions  but  only  class  institutions,  such 
as  the  Soviets,  which  can  overcome  the  resistance  of  the 
propertied  classes  and  lay  the  foundations  of  socialistic 
society.  The  remnant  of  the  Constituent  Assembly  left 
after  the  withdrawal  of  the  Bolsheviks  can  only  serve  as  a 
cloak  for  the  attempts  of  bourgeois  counter-revolutionaries 
to  overthrow  the  power  of  the  Soviets.  Therefore  the 
Central  Executive  Committee  has  resolved  that  the  Con- 
stituent Assembly  be  dissolved. 

Five  days  later,  before  the  Third  All-Russian  Con- 
gress of  Soviets,  Lenin  said : 

To  conceive  Socialism  as  a  thing  that  Messrs.  Socialists 
in  a  ready-made  gown  will  present  on  a  plate  will  not  do. 
Not  a  single  question  of  class  struggle  has  ever  yet  been 
solved  through  other  means  than  force.  ...  We  are  not  dis- 
turbed in  the  least  by  the  moans  of  people  who,  consciously 
or  unconsciously,  are  on  the  side  of  the  bourgeoisie,  and  so 


THE  CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY  301 

frightened  by  it,  so  oppressed  by  its  rule  that,  looking  now 
at  this  unprecedented  class  struggle,  they  become  con- 
fused, burst  into  tears,  forgetting  all  their  promises  and  de- 
manding from  us  the  impossible — that  we  Socialists  should 
without  struggle  against  exploiters,  without  breaking  their 
resistance,  attain  full  victory. 

Utterly  unfair  are  these  insinuations  that  the  Con- 
stituent Assembly  would  have  shown  itself  class- 
bound.  For  the  property  rights  of  the  landed 
gentry  it  evinced  no  more  tenderness  than  the  Bol- 
sheviks themselves.  Its  treatment  toward  indus- 
trial capitalists  would  have  been  dictated  by  notions 
of  public  policy  rather  than  sj^mpathy  with  the  prop- 
ertied. The  devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  toiling 
masses  of  the  Social  Revolutionaries  who  withstood 
the  Bolsheviks  was  beyond  question.  It  was  still 
too  early  for  politicians  or  careerists  to  have  crept 
among  them.  Probably  every  one  of  these  S.  R. 
deputies  had  stood  up  for  the  people  under  the 
regime  that  persecuted  the  friends  of  the  people. 
Probably  no  constitution-making  body  ever  met 
which  contained  more  heroic  stuff.  Had  it  not  been 
brutally  violated,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  Russia  would  soon  have  made  wonderful  strides 
in  democracy  and  popular  well-being.  Wanting  this 
sovereign  moral  authority,  Russia  became  the  battle- 
ground of  international  socialists  who  cared  more 
to  bring  on  world  revolution  than  to  benefit  her  com- 
mon people,  and  international  capitalists  who  cared 
more  to  vindicate  the  property  rights  of  the  bour- 
geoisie than  to  benefit  her  common  people. 

The  behavior  of  the  Russian  proletariat  toward 
the  Constituent  Assembly,  that  open  door  to  freedom 


302     THE  RUSSIAN  BOLSHEVIK  REVOLUTION 

and  justice,  is  like  that  of  a  man  who  for  years  has 
been  shut  up  in  a  dungeon.  Having  obtained  posses- 
sion of  explosives,  he  patiently  drills  holes  in  one 
of  the  blocks  of  stone  that  stand  between  him  and 
liberty  and  packs  them  with  dynamite  in  the  hope 
of  blowing  a  hole  in  the  wall.  Suddenly  the 
earth  quakes  and  lo,  the  door  of  his  dungeon 
stands  ajar !  Gazing  at  it  with  dull  uncomprehend- 
ing eyes,  he  completes  his  tamping,  sets  off  the  dyna- 
mite charge  and,  wounded  and  half  dead  from  the 
blast,  he  drags  himself  through  the  breach  in  the 
wall  to  freedom. 

But    he    might    have    stepped    forth    unscathed 
through  the  open  door ! 


THE   END 


J  I. 

,iimi  i\v 


MmFs, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


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